


(Unofficially) Voltron Legendary Defender - Season 9

by hoelko



Category: Voltron - Fandom, Voltron: Legendary Defender, vld - Fandom
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Canon Compliant, Comedy, Drama, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Not A Fix-It, Pining Keith (Voltron), Slow Burn, Voltron, attempts to explain or actually come back to things, but still fixing a BUNCH, characters get hurt, klance, like idk it's voltron what other tags do i need, vld continuation, vld s9, vld season 9
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2019-09-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 05:27:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 191,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17074271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoelko/pseuds/hoelko
Summary: The Universe has been saved.The war is over.Voltron is no longer needed.But that's the thing about the Universe.It's always getting bigger.





	1. Old Dogs

**Author's Note:**

> The start of the end (or a continuation of the end? A new beginning? Insert something corny)  
> 

Keith looked up at the figure. The sun was blinding against the white marble. Almost glowing. He ran his eyes over its soft features, the smile lines beaming down at him from 50 feet above. Its hair a solitary cloud in the crystal blue sky. He thought he could almost see it blowing freely in the wind. His mind wandered with the wind, and imagined whispers of _you are the universe’s only hope, you’re finally working together as one_ , and _I believe in you, Paladins._

He has always liked the quiet. The calm and serenity it brought. How he could think and organize his thoughts clearly. The silence here was more. It was heavenly. It was a caress of peace that enveloped him, and made him feel safe. At home. But that peace could lead to chaos, as his mind wandered further.

Keith looked down, shutting his eyes. He saw it too clearly again. The flashes of realities. Their team all together one moment. Her last goodbye. Her parting gift to a boy who would’ve done everything to keep her with them. The blinding light. Then finally, gone.

Keith opened his eyes and looked back up at her. Allura’s figure stood tall and beautiful in the place she had so desperately wanted to see again, but never could. He couldn't help but feel guilty; he was standing on her home. He was able to experience everything she had talked about on Altea. The distant violet mountain range that encased the valley of the city. How the skies seemed to always be a shade of blue that matched the color of her eyes. The roaming fields of juniberries that looked like an ocean of bright magenta, lapping the land. Even the strange rock showers that Coran would talk about, scorching Keith’s jacket the first time a storm came through and nearly caught Pidge’s hair on fire. Keith looked at her, sad that her form was here, and she couldn't experience a bit of it.

Which, is of course, why Keith did his best to experience everything Altea had to offer when he visited. In three years’ time, he’d made sure to attend each Juniberry Festival, let Coran show him how to brew nunvil (despite dry heaving in the cellars with the scent of rotten eggs and feet in the air), and sat back and took in each moment of peace when he visited the farm.

Keith turned. He took wide strides as he walked back to his bike at the base of the steps. Hopping on, he looked back up at her once more, still a shining beacon in the sky.

“You will always be our princess,” quietly, a whisper to himself. Keith turned on the engine and flew down the road, leaving her to stand guard over her thriving home.

 

\---

 

He wasn’t going to admit it to himself, but maybe he should have started cleaning a week ago like he said. 

Dirty dishes laid in the sink, now overflowing with soapy-food-filled water, clanking as he tried to get them washed and in the other side. Dirt covered boots and tools still sat by the door, creating small islands of earth surrounding them on the still dusty floor. Clothes either were in the one neat, folded pile he started, or strewn across the couch like a tornado had blown through, socks mismatched or eaten by the wash, and zippers missing on some jackets due to turning the dryer on high for too long. The kitchen table was an attempt, with the juniberry jam, peanut butter, and bread at least NEXT to the basket. However the attempt to start MAKING the sandwiches ended when he realized he needed a knife, and that all the knives were dirty, and that MOST of his dishes were dirty and-

Yeah, ok, fine. He should have started cleaning a week ago.

Lance scrubbed the pot with all his might, but the crust was as stubborn as a yalmor. Like, mashed potatoes was the easiest thing to make, so how does he end up burning them to the bottom of the pot? Realizing he was wasting time, he opted for filling it up to let it soak. He moved back to the table to try and get the sandwiches made as fast as he could.

He was excited yeah, because everyone was coming back in today. And he knew he was happy since it HAD been awhile since they were together all at once. He just couldn't shake the feeling of impending anxiousness. His strokes at the bread with the jam were sloppy, and his fingers started to get covered in it. It wasn’t like he was NERVOUS or anything, these were his friends. His amigos. The guys he traversed across the galaxy with and kicked so much bad guy butt alongside with-

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

Lance seized and tossed his head. “Don’t come in yet!”

A blown-open door ignored that suggestion, and Lance yelped as he turned towards it. “Now is that any way to greet someone you haven’t talked to on a video chat in over 10 hours?”

Lance couldn't help but tear up. He dropped the knife and rushed to the door, where two very large arms embraced him in a bone-crushing hug.

“Really? 10 hours? Man I was thinking it was at least 12. I never thought I’d see that beautiful face again,” Lance said. Hunk gave Lance a quick squeeze before letting go, gripping his shoulders as he did. “Of course the real thing is always better.”

Hunk chuckled, hearty and deep. His smile lines were deeper, but still Hunk as Hunk should be. A headband crowning his head, a new, dark vest adorning his torso, allowing his muscles to pop in his yellow shirt. At his feet sat a bundle wrapped in a small towel, piquing Lance’s interest.

“Yeah, and the real thing ended up having to call Pidge, who decided to not turn her alarm on, and tell her she missed the first portal shuttle of the morning, so she’ll be here a bit later. So at least we can prep a bit beforeha-WHOA BOY!”

Hunk took a look around the room, wondering if he had entered Lance’s home or the scene of a robbery. Lance closed in on himself, ashamed of the mess. “Yeah, I know, I meant to start early, but I kept getting distracted, picked more flowers, milked Kaltenecker a bunch, I just…lost track…”

Hunk looked at Lance, his face pinched in guilt. Hunk’s eyes fell to the two blue flecks at the sides of Lance's cheeks, and melted. He understood.

“Dude, it’s fine. I mean whose side of the dorm was World War 3 back at the Garrison on a daily basis?” Hunk gave Lance a cocked brow, “Any less and I’d be worried.” Lance smiled at that…. ”but seriously dude we need to clean this place up,” and immediately turned upside down. Lance turned back to the sink.

“I know man, just go take a seat where you can and I’ll get this finished.”

Hunk whirled Lance back around to face him, “WE, compadre. I’ll get the dishes while you tackle the laundry. Might have to sacrifice the floor, but then, we move on to making sandwiches. We won’t let this ship sink too far down…although it looks like the sink has already sunk into the Marianas Trench.”

Lance shrugged in response. “Most of what you see is a lost cause Hunk, present company included.”

“Man, what did we talk about, you can’t say stuff about yourself like that dude.” Lance actually looked at Hunk with some fear; The Compassion of Hunk was a force that the universe could expand off of.

“Joking, man! I just meant that you’d never be able to cure this clutter bug no matter how hard you try! It’s like grime is coated in my DNA.”

“Uhh, your facial routine would say otherwise. I think you just get bit by the lazy bug from time to time, “ he said that, but Hunk still looked at him with concern.

“Yeah, you got me. Then let’s get cleaned up before everyone else gets here,” Lance turned toward the couch to get started on folding. Hunk followed suit to the sink, taking off his gloves.

“Yup. Can’t wait. Plus Pidge is gonna LOVE me once she gets here.

“Why’s that?”

“Oh, you’ll see”

 

\--

 

Pidge was NOT loving it.

Not two minutes after getting off at the Altea Grand Galactic Station was she being ushered off with Coran and Romelle, running around getting prepared for the evening. Coran was GOING to escort her to Lance’s farm, but now she was waiting, a bag on her shoulder, looking up at an Altean with a jetpack hanging up larger, pink banners across the high beams of the royal courtyard. She looked to Romelle, a tablet in her hand, checking away at all the preparations they’ve been through already. Coran was not making the banner hanging any easier, shouting at the poor event worker.

“Just slightly more to the left! No, no too far, back to the right—OH, you dipped down a bit come on back up, I SAID THE RIGHT!!!”

Pidge swore she could hear the sigh of exhaustion come from the Altean. She gave an audible one herself. She was still kicking herself for staying up late, looking at the night sky, checking for interesting reads in the stars, even logging a few anomalies she wanted to look at later. It was the call from Hunk three minutes before their shuttle was about to leave that woke her up, rather than the six alarms she plugged on her phone that she SWORE she didn’t press the snooze button for. “Coran, I’m late enough as it is, is there any way to hurry this along? 

“Ah, sorry Number 5. Lots of preparations still to be made. The banners need to be hung, tables set for tonight, Bii-Boh-Bi STILL hasn’t arrived with the entertainment and the guest list – LORFAM I TOLD THAT’S TOO FAR TO THE LEFT!!!”

Lorfam, apparently, ended up ramming his face into the pillar next to him in shock, sliding down until he was knees to the ground. Pidge felt a great respect for anyone willing to put up with event planner Coran.

Romelle gave Pidge an apologetic look. “We are sorry Pidge, we’re just trying to get everything done third time around you know? I mean first time is always ‘WHAT DID WE DO WRONG?!’, then the second time is ‘Whooph! Can’t believe we pulled THAT off again’, so the third time is—“

 “’Third time’s the charm?’”

“What? I was going to say is third time is ‘EVERYONE IS STARRING AT US WE’D BETTER GET THIS RIGHT BECAUSE WE’VE ALREADY DONE TWO, AND THEY’RE EXPECTING THE BEST TIME SO IT HAS TO BE PERFECT!!!’”

 Pidge had to detach her nose from Romelle’s with how close she got, and gain her composure after that award-winning performance. “Yeah…but I’m just getting antsy. I’m already late and feel guilty about it. That…and I think Lorfam might need a tissue.”

Lorfam’s face was bright red and pulsing, a small trickle of red starting to fall from his nose, one tooth lacking a chunk that Pidge was sure had been there earlier. Coran crossed his arms, eyeing Lorfam. “Fine, go get cleaned up. But send Clervin in place then! At least he’s got the dexterity for precision work.”

Lorfam hung his head as he walked off, but Pidge was certain she could see his face with an expression of relief as he passed by, despite getting cherry red. She turned back toward the elderly Altean. “Your direction seems to be a bit…strict, Coran. Care to say why?”

 “Again, sorry Number 5. Like Romelle said, we’re just trying to make this a grand time for everyone. Sorry if it’s taking longer than I said.”

 “Maybe I can take her off your hands.”

 A deep voice caused them all to turn. A large figure in Galaxy Garrison regalia and a fighter jacket stood in front of them. Taking off his sunglasses, a large scar ran across the bridge of his nose, silver hair bouncing in front of his stormy eyes.

 “Shiro!” Pidge took two giant strides and leapt maybe five feet, landing right in Shiro’s embrace. One warm hand clasped her back; a more stiff, colder, larger arm held her steady. Shiro beamed at her, “It’s great to see you too, Pidge.” They detached and turned towards the Alteans. “I can take her to Lance’s while you two get everything ready, and then we can meet up tonight at the ceremony.”

 “Good show, then. Just be sure everyone is looking their best! Suits all clean and not a mark on them sir!” Coran gave Shiro a wink before he and Romelle turned to attend their duties. Shiro leaned in to take Pidge’s bag for her. “Shall we?”

 

\--

 

The walk to Lance’s farm passed through a larger field of juniberries, hills rolling and stretching until they reached the base of the mountains in the distance. To the left, a large forest of alderbrook trees grew, their star-shaped leaves a bright green, with their trunks a deep red. Pidge had never realized how breezy Altea was. It was like everything had to be moving, or the stillness would be uncomfortable. She was also thankful that everything seemed to be hypoallergenic; at least she never seemed to get a stuffy nose or itchy eyes from being outside.

 The pair walked along the gravel road, laughing at some of the more comical aspects of their lives.

 “-and dad didn’t know that Bae Bae had taken the screwdriver, and ends up finding it buried in the backyard a week later!”

 Shiro smiled at her. He kept his pace slow to enjoy her company, also so they could actually talk together without her getting out of breath. “Sounds like Commander Hohlt’s got his work cut out for him with two genius children, and apparently a genius dog too.”

 “Yeah, just a smart family in general. But what about the exploration missions? Matt says you’ve really expanded the United Galaxies.”

 "Right. We’ve gotten more planets to join and offer assistance, technology, and even materials for education and research. We’re hoping to get more involved to start multiple trade routes, and lots have planets have already agreed to take part in some tourism and cultural ventures. We’re really bringing the entire universe together.”

 Pidge side-glanced him, cocking a brow. “I also hear someone’s got himself a little co-pilot on these missions…”

 Shiro gawked and choked, looking at her while his face got a few shades darker, “Who said that?!”

 “Matt loves gossip. I love information. That’s easy two-and-two math right there, Shiro.”

 “Well remind me to give your brother some ‘gossip’ next time I see him.”

 “Noted. So…who is he? Is he cute? What’s his IQ?”

 “ _Curtis_ , is fine, and we’ve just been enjoying each other’s company for the time being. Nothing out there, just two guys enjoying themselves.”

 “Yeah, romantically flying across the galaxy through the stars, seeing planets filled with beauty and wonder.”

 Shiro wondered when his face would finally lose it’s heat, and thus, turned the tides of the conversation, “What about you? Anyone more interesting than computers in your life?”

 “Bleh, there’s no time. And really when we’ve got more planets being explored and more aspects of our reality to be studied, who could even THINK about dating? Ehh, no offense by the way.”

 “None taken.”

 They walked a bit more, Pidge’s legs starting to ache with the distance. “So, when was the last time you were on Altea?”

 Shiro pondered a tic, recalling his last business mission. “About a month ago actually. There was an envoy from a neighboring galaxy looking to discuss some intergalactic politics. I was called in and Hunk helped me plan a diplomacy gala for them. Have to say we did a pretty great job. They were so impressed that they went back wanting to start elections for an ambassador. Hunk was just happy Vrepit Sal was able to handle his first event dinner on his own.”

 “That’s awesome! I bet you, Hunk, and Lance must’ve been super popular at a party like that.”

 Shiro’s steps slowed, his head losing its proud position. “Actually, Lance…didn’t come. I think Keith tried to tell him to go, but we never saw him.”

 “…oh.” Pidge looked down, in truth, not surprised by the answer, guilt slowly washing over her as they walked. “It’s been maybe 6 months since I’ve been here last. I’m…sorry I haven’t been more in touch…”

 A hand placed itself on Pidge’s shoulder. “We all have our own lives to lead, Pidge. It’s ok to be your own person.”

 She smiled at that, happy that Shiro could still be the dad-figure of infinite wisdom. “Speaking of our lone wolf, what HAS Keith been up to?”

 “Well, he’s been busy with the Blades. Disaster relief and rescue has been big. Plus they’ve been trying to crack down on some intergalactic mob and gang activity. Keith himself has put at least four crime bosses behind bars.”

 “Wow, sounds crazy. You talk to him that much?”

 “Daily actually. He can’t help but spill anything interesting that Marmora finds. But he does take some time off. He’s actually visited Altea quite often.”

 “Yeah, I heard about that. Doesn’t he try to come for each Altean Festival or something?”

 “Well, from our conversations, he visits Altea maybe, I don’t know, 3 to 4 times a month?”

 “WHAT?!”

“Oh yes, he finds his time that’s for sure. Seems like after every mission he’s back here.”

 Pidge was floored. That made it sound like Keith was coming back to Altea every other week. “What the heck is he doing here that often?”

 It was Shiro’s turn for a side-eye. “Oh, he doesn’t really ever say why, but just that he ends up relaxed and ready for the next mission. I chalk that up to enjoying the terrain, taking in the sights, spending some time with-

 

*vvrrrrRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMmm!!!*

 

Pidge yiped and Shiro gawked as a very loud, VERY CLOSE engine revved directly behind them, quickly turning around to see a red hover bike parked on the road.

 “Thought you taught me talking behind someone’s back was impolite, Old Timer.”

 “Keith!” Pidge ran up to his bike as he dismounted, bumping against it as Pidge held him in her embrace.

 Shiro looked on them, deadpan. “Yes, and I also thought I taught you to respect your elders and show common decency.”

 Keith gave him a smirk. “And I also thought I was taught not to tolerate crotchety, old men.” With that, Shiro chuckled as he walked over, clutching Keith’s outstretched hand in a firm shake. Pidge looked at him expectantly.

 “Thank goodness, can we get a ride?? We’ve been walking since the station and my legs are DYING.”

 “Huh, gee, well I know I give rides to my friends, I’m not so sure about gossipers…”

 “….I’m not in the mood for Galra-Keith’s comedy, what I want is broody, Regular-Keith to do his thing and be silent while we get on his bike the rest of the way to Lance’s.”

 “Ha ha, climb on Pidge.” She tossed a victory fist in the air as she hoisted herself up, Shiro following suit.

 “Thought you would’ve been here earlier.”

“I took the long way around. Wanted to see some sights before the crowds pour in.”

 Shiro smiled softly, and set himself up behind Pidge.

 Keith swung his leg over the bike, as Pidge grasped his middle preparing for the ride. “So, how many times HAVE you visited Altea this past month?”

 Keith started the ignition and floored the gas, hearing Pidge squeal and Shiro yell out “EASY!” behind him, hoping the rushing breeze might cool down his quickly warming face.

 

\--

 

At least the sink didn’t look like soap island anymore.

 Hunk stood next to the kitchen table, wrapping the last of the sandwiches, and placed them into the basket. A look back around the downstairs told him what the duo had finished in the past two hours. “Ok, dishes done and put away. Laundry folded. Lunch ready to go with Kaltenecker chocolate milk chilling in the fridge,” he looked to the floor,”...floor is to be explained as a farmhouse; there’s gonna be dirt.”

Hunk placed his hands in his hips in triumph. Not perfect, but perfect for him. And of course it would be perfect for their friends...who would be getting here before they knew it.

He cupped his mouth, turning to the staircase. “Lance! Better hurry up, company’s coming and they’ll be here any minute!”

 

Upstairs, Lance heard him, but the urgency was not processing. He stood at the mirror in his bathroom, the water trickling through the faucet as he washed his face. It felt cool to his skin, causing it to prickle as it dried. Wiping off the water, his eyes dragged up to his expression in the mirror.

 His face looked the same. Same dark complexion. Same chocolate locks. Same sea blue eyes that were a surprise the family when he was born. Same chin his dad said could pierce the side of a tank. Just his same face.

The addition of two teal Altean marks branded on his cheeks begged to differ.

They told the tale of a boy that went into space, fought off tyrants and armies. Saved countless lives and homes. Traveled further into the stars than anyone thought possible.

And fell horribly for someone he thought was too strong to lose.

His head dipped. It had seriously been that long. Each day that passed made it harder to believe. His life was so different. No more space battles, no more flying through galaxies,

No more-

A nudge came at his fingers, gripping the sink. Plachu, the grayish space mouse with bright red eyes, looked up at him expectantly. Lance’s brow creased as he smiled, scratching the small thing under its chin. “I know little guy. Won’t make today all gloom, promise.” Plachu squeaked in response, leaning into the pets as if the little mouse was the one doing the consoling. Lance turned to his bedroom, the remaining mice standing on his mattress. Each one giving him puppy dog...err, puppy mouse eyes. Plachu scurried from the sink to join them.

“Don’t worry guys, well make it a good day.” Lance placed the last of his laundry in his dresser, practically thankful for Hunk’s early arrival. It had been forever since he’d done actual chores for around the house, and a swift kick in the motivational knee is what he needed.

A shout from downstairs brought his attention to the door. “Lance! There’s some hustle and bustle down here!! Might want to hurry it up!!!”

The mice twitched at that, leaping off the bed and bolting to the door, their feet scritching as their claws pawed the wood floor. Lance stuck his hands in his pockets, looking back in the mirror once more.

“Well loverboy, lets go put on a show.”

 

\--

 

Lance creaked down the steps of the house, the commotion getting louder. As the got to the base, he raised his head to the scene in front of him.

Hunk was cuddling something tiny is his arms, swaying back and forth with vigor as if he was trying to imbue it with his love. He set it down and let go as it brushed past him and bolted right into Lance’s arms.

“Lance!!”

Pidge buried her face in his chest, giving a hug even Hunk would call impressive. Lance returned it along with a pat on her choppy, caramel locks. She looked up at him, eyes misty with relief, “I am so happy to see you, I’m sorry I haven’t been around more I know I need to call more often I haven’t even told you snot all the projects we’re working-“

“Whoa, whoawhoawhoawhoa, Pidge, you’re fine! It’s great to see you too!” A sly glance down at her painted curiosity on her face “...great to see your height hasn’t changed.”

Pidge grimaced, putting herself at arm’s length. She looked past his shoulder to the kitchen table, eyes going scaultrite-lens wide. “Hunk, is what I think is in that bundle, IN that bundle?” 

Hunk’s triumphant look told her what she needed to know, but he still had the pride to tell her anyway. “You mean, THAT bundle? The one that has cookies in it? Peanut butter cookies? Coleen Hohlt’s secret family recipe peanut butter cookies? Eh, probably.”

Pidge’s eyes were stars as she glowed at him. “Hunk, name it. Any kind of robot, kitchen tool, appliance, whatever, name it and I’ll build it.”

Hunk chuckled as he walked over to her, letting her know about every new gadget he’d appreciate in his kitchen. She moved with him into the dining area as Lance turned back to the door, startled as a large hand was already outstretched to meet him, “Great to see you sharpshooter.”

Lance smiled as he took Shiro’s grip, returning a solid shake that sent warmth up his arm, “Back at ya, gramps”

Shiro’s smile and brow both flatlined, but the cheer returned not a second later. ”Sorry I didn’t catch you last I was here. It was such a whirlwind trip and I couldn’t get away.”

“Ah it’s nothin’. Can’t expect the life of a space explorer to be anything but busy.”

“You didn’t go to that gala?”

Lance glanced behind Shiro. Keith stood in the threshold, a pack slung over his shoulder, the strap gripping at his red biker jacket. Lance wondered if the guy only owned one black shirt, or if that was only what he buys, since that’s all he ever saw him in. Keith’s boots were worn, but looked freshly cleaned, his pants tucked in tight.

Lance brought his attention to Keith’s face. His expression was expectant, thick brows dark and downturned in a glare. His mouth sat as a small, thin line, as if it was waiting to pop with some choice heated words. His eyes, despite his forever brooding glower, were the only thing that seemed soft. Lance could never figure if they were storm grey or violet, and resigned to thinking that being part Galra meant having chameleon eyes. Lance took a quick look at Keith’s cheek, remembering he wasn’t the only one with a permanent reminder of their space odyssey. It had always made him look older. 

Lance pouted as he eyed Keith. “Well, when your cow gets in the garbage and starts mooing uncontrollably and you have to stay up all night rubbing her belly, I’ll be sure to wonder where YOU are at our next shindig.”

“You said you were gonna go.”

“Yeah, back when I had a cow content with eating grass and hay for her life. Now she’s developed a palate! It’s not like everything is gonna be just like you left it every time you visit.”

They both glared at each other, before cracking smiles and chuckling at their light bickering. Nothing had changed in the least.

Keith held up his hand. Lance took it and gripped it tight, a familiar and comfortable vise around his palm.

“Promise you’ll go to the next one?”

“Whatever you say, mullet.”

They walked into the kitchen with everyone, Pidge attempting to open the bundle of precious cookies while Hunk swatted her hand away. Shiro watched them proudly, the mice perched on his shoulder.

“It was a bit of a shame the Blades had a mission that day. Would have been nice to have you there.”

Keith shrugged, “Tell Kolivan. He’s never been the one for super formal events… or being social.”

“Yeah and you were at one point too. Now it takes twenty minutes just to get you off my porch when you leave,” Lance turned his attention to the broader man, “seriously Shiro can you tell your prodigy to let me have some breathing room every once in awhile?”

Shiro eyed Keith, where he saw a distinct brush of pink flecking his bridge while his eyes hid behind his bangs. Shiro looked back at Lance, who didn't seem to notice. “He’s an adult Lance, plus it’s his choice what he does with his vacation time.”

“Coming out to a farm every other week doesn’t sound much like a vacation.”

Across the room a very loud and deliberate “HA!” came from the smallest of them. Pidge wiggled her brow as Keith glared daggers at her.

...and with that, “Ok then! How about we get this lunch show on the road. Have to say that our waistlines are to be ignored today, as Carb Town is the destination. Pidge, we’ve got your cookies to go along with some fresh chocolate milk, peanut butter and juniberry jam sandwiches, a tub of food goo for our vegetable substitute, and Lance, a special surprise for you.”

“I thought the cookies were the surprise.”

“For Pidge yeah. But I got one for you too.”

Hunk walked over to the bundle on the table. Unwrapping it, it cased a container with the cookies on top, but a second container on the bottom. Its contents being fluffy, golden-brown puffs, flecked with green chives and shone with an egg wash from baking.

“Hunk...no way…”

“I know how to hook my homies up.”

Lance walked to the table and grasped the container, opening it up, and smelling the sweet and savory warmth of the rolls inside.

“But did you bring-“

“Got you covered, have a little hotplate so we can melt some butter, classic style, along with my spin of some olive oil and a special blend of herbs and spices. Garlic knots have to be savored, not shoveled.”

Lance couldn’t believe his nose. They smelled fresh from the oven. Like how his house used to smell after mom was getting ready for holiday gatherings with the family. He could almost hear Marco talking about the dates he would botch or Veronica’s latest precision score at the range. Almost.

“Th…Thanks man.”

“No problem. NOW, how about we get out to eatin’ so we can all come back, get ready, and go eat again?”

 

\--

 

Their meal was spent under one of the biggest alderbrook trees, about a ten minute walk from the farmhouse. Star leaves fell lightly down on them, crisp and bright, adding color to the scene. The swing Lance had outfitted on one of the lowest branches for when his niece and nephew would come visit swayed in the breeze. They had draped a picnic blanket under its shade, splaying the contents of their basket to indulge as the time passed.

Most of the conversation was pass-around storytelling; each member talking about what they’ve been doing, how their lives had changed drastically: Pidge helping future explorers reach their potential and developing the tech and software for them to do so; Hunk using his restaurant and catering expertise to expand it to full event planning and cultural diplomacy; Shiro flying through space (“with his brand new CO-PILOT” “Pidge quiet!”) and spreading peace and relations with other planets; Keith training new Blades, along with their humanitarian work and investigating intergalactic crime. Lance…on the farm, with Kaltenecker, growing juniberries and other crops and taking them to market. 

They laughed, yelled, hooted, and even saw some food goo fly across the blanket. Keith watched each member closely, taking in their mannerisms and expressions, noticing no difference after all this time. 

His eyes ended on Lance, who was smiling at a joke from Hunk about how Vrepit Sal once tried to give a tip back to the customer, thinking it was a bribe to get better food (“Isn’t that what a tip is?” “Yeah, but the customer’s not supposed to know that”).

Lance’s smile was genuine, but Keith could see undertones of something else, something you’d notice only if you’d paid attention to its details every day, in close quarters, for an extended period of time. Lance’s eyes were glossier than they used to be. He carried bags underneath them from exhaustion; Keith always wondered where the exhaust came from, although he had his hunches. Lance’s skin, the thing he used to pride himself on, was drier, lips cracked and chapped due to biting them often. His shoulders hunched more, making him appear smaller whenever he was in a conversation.

The outside was a façade. An attempt to play-pretend being happy.

Keith looked down, thoughts swarming with guilt, and something he couldn’t place.

 

\--

 

Full bellies and belching contests aside, the team walked back to Lance’s in two groups; Lance, Shiro and Pidge leading the way, comparing different planets' vegetation, and Hunk falling in step to walk behind by Keith. The sun shone down on them while the breeze swept at everyone. Keith kept his head down, mind in full concentration, thinking of some way to- 

“So whatcha thinkin’ about?”

Keith looked up quick at Hunk to his side, Hunk focused and waiting for an answer. Keith told him the truth, “Nothing.”

“Yeah like you’d actually think I’d buy that. You’ve kept your interest in the ground for the past five minutes this whole walk when we have like, the most beautiful scenery to look at. Seriously dude, what’s up?”

Keith realized he really couldn’t hide from Hunk, a comforting and terrifying thought. Hunk was too good with emotions, and if he had a hold of them, someone was most likely to end up crying (MOST most likely, Hunk).

Keith sighed in defeat. “I’ve…just been thinking…about a lot… not one specific thing.”

Hunk cocked a confused brow at Keith, looked forward, and then looked back. “Really? To me looks like you’re thinking about ONE specific thing, and that thing just entails a bunch of thoughts.”

……….MAN Hunk’s intuition should be studied. Keith marveled at his friend, not sure whether to attempt at disagreeing or pour his heart out. Instead, Hunk continued.

“I’m thinking that there’s a lot you want to say, and you’re scared if you do, stuff isn’t gonna turn out how you hope.”

Keith looked down at that, adding a check box to the list Hunk was slowly going down.

“And so you’ve resolved to just hovering around, being present, and taking in all the good stuff, and making sure there’s no bad stuff to worry about. Classic Keith-actions-over-words style.”

Keith looked away from Hunk. He could feel his steps slow, the distance between them and their friends growing.

“But you know, I think there needs to be a balance of both good _and_ bad stuff. Cuz if all you have is good stuff to remember, then at some point the bad is just gonna come crashing down in a giant wave, and you might not be able to get out. So if you just chip away with a little bad here and there, then you’ll be able to experience the good more often, and hey, it might even reward you.” 

Keith whipped his head back at Hunk. He was smiling brightly with understanding, and deep brown eyes that said _I know_ locked with Keith’s. A smile slowly expanded at the bottom of Keith’s face, grateful for Hunk being part of that ragtag group that ran into the desert all those years ago.

“…So…and I’ll end it here. All I’m gonna say is, maybe try talking? Cuz if it ends out bad, that just means you’re one step closer to something good happening.”

….Keith had no words. No thoughts. Just a grin on his face and a thank-you to the universe for a big, happy, loving friend.

“Thanks Hunk.”

“You got it dude.”

…

“Just let me know when you do…I wanna document it and tell Pidge I was right.”

 

\--

 

Keith looked in the downstairs mirror, straightening his red tie, flicking his brushed and now side-parted bangs out of his eyes. Eyeing himself, he never figured he’d look good in pink. But, the way the black undershirt made the soft pink of the suit pop, along with his black mop on his head, he thought he could add SOME pink to his wardrobe…like a wristband or something.

He looked up. He had never paid it any mind, but he really HAD grown up. His jaw was set more, baby fat finally receding to show more defined features. He tried to soften his look, which made his eyes widen as he noticed the striking similarity between himself and his mother. He’d come a long way; he’d just never realized how it showed.

Keith turned to the staircase, “Lance, everyone’s gone on ahead. Time to get going.”

“Be down in a tic, mullet! Perfection takes time!”

Keith shook his head. _Yeah…perfection…_

He looked around downstairs. Hunk had said they’d done a massive cleaning overhaul when he’d gotten there. Keith knew all too well how often those happened, being part of many a cleaning escapade himself. He didn’t mind helping…he was just concerned how often he’d had to do it…

Lance’s walls were covered with photos and memorabilia. Art pieces from multiple planets and people. Photos of family, friends, and events they’d attended. Hunk’s mice-selfies sat in frames on a console table.

One photo sat on the windowsill of the sink, alone, and catching the evening light from outside. Keith picked it up gingerly, stroking the frame with his thumb. His eyes rested on the smiling faces in it.

Lance, looking dapper and clean cut in a sweater and collared shirt.

Allura, stunning in a simple white dress as her hair cascaded down her shoulders.

The two of them, arm in arm, underneath a lush tree, looking happy together-

“Alright! Coming down!”

Keith put the frame back in its place, walking back to the foyer.

“You really want to be late for an event that kind of has to include us?”

The steps creaked as Lance came down. “It’s not late, Keith. If we ARE the stars of the show, everyone is just simply, early.”

Keith looked up at him. Lance was in a matching pink suit and shirt, the only difference being a blue tie in place of Keith’s red one. His hair was slicked back, and few, fine cowlicks slicked and fell on his forehead. His face freshly washed and glowing, the orange light catching little details in his suit and features.

Keith, maybe, lost himself in what he saw.

“….Uhhh…you ok man?”

Keith shook his head. A little more vigorously than he meant to, making him dizzy. “Fine! Just…fine.”

Lance shrugged as he went to the larger mirror, fixing his tie similar to Keith. His fingers moved more slowly, until he lowered them, almost like he’d forgotten about them, as he stared at his reflection.

Keith let the silence take over for a moment, but doesn’t give it too much power, “Something on your mind?”

“Ahh, nah. Just getting ready.”

Keith crossed his arms, sometimes proud of the thoughts that came to him, “Didn’t someone tell me the amount of thoughts stored in his head could fit inside a giant ship?”

Lance laughed a good, barking laugh, before it settled as quickly as it started, “Yeah, feels like nowadays all I need is that little paper airplane to fit them in.”

Again, Keith let the silence creep a bit. He did that on principle. Let a little time to breathe. Don’t push anything. Only interrupt it so it didn't have a chance to take hold. Because sometimes-

“Since when did you end up becoming the guy with the quick quips, huh?” Lance turned toward Keith, a grateful expression focused directly on him.

Keith returned it with a determined beam, “I’ve always had great quips, it’s just before I was using them to dodge your cockiness.”

Lance clutched his heart. “Excuse me! I was never cocky. I was a proud and determined teammate, and knew I was the better one.”

Keith shut his eyes as he turned to the door. “Sure thing, Lance. Come on, they’re waiting.”

Lance paused. Keith knew it was a split second, but he caught the frown line crease on Lance’s forehead, before immediately going back to a smile.

“Yup, can’t let the party start without the best of the bunch right?” He strode past Keith out the door, and Keith couldn't help but pause behind him, before following and shutting the door.

 

\--

 

Romelle was right. Third time everyone WAS staring.

The royal courtyard was shaded in oranges and reds from both the evening sunset and candles surrounding the pillars. The pink banners flapped lightly in the breeze (Clervin really WAS precise), and gold streamers spiraled down the pillars, accenting their white glow. Bouquets of juniberries mixed with white lilies framed the staircase, leading up to the stage, which was decorated with five glowing statues. Large cats of red, blue, green, yellow, and black stood facing everyone, standing tall and proud among the soft lights that danced around them.

The open amphitheater had maybe two-thousand seats, slowly filling with local guests, dignitaries, and long time friends coming from near and far. Members clad in Garrison wear filed from the Station, the Atlas pouring out more people as they hurried to join everyone. Blades mingled with Alteans, removing their masks and allowing their faces to shine with a moment of relaxation. People had to pardon themselves as Arusians passed by their knees, carefully trying not to bump into them. Balmerans, Olkari, Bii-Boh-Bis, humans, and more, all together in one place.

Seemed like only a miracle just years ago.

As the commotion started to calm down, four seats were finally filled front and center. Pidge was trying to loosen her green tie, as Hunk swatted her hand away (“Wait at least until AFTER the ceremony?” “Fine, but if I asphyxiate, I’ll haunt you”). Lance and Keith sat beside them, watching them bicker before a mic tap brought their attention to the front.

Coran stood proud on stage. While they all knew him as their goofball uncle, he did have his moments of commanding poise. Especially today.

“Thank you all for coming today. I have to say that, being our third year doing this, I can’t be more grateful for the amount of support you’ve all shown, and how many of you still come to this memorable occasion."

A round of applause broke through the crowd. As it died, Coran picked up.

“Now, since I am the one who does most of the planning of these events, along with some much needed help from my assistants and confidants,” two winks made their way to both Hunk and Romelle, “I have been told that I am to relax and enjoy the evening that I have worked to prepare for all of you. So, I hand it off to someone to continue the address. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, Captain Shiro of the IGF-Atlas.”

A roar of applause came from the crowd as Shiro took the stage, strides wide and purposeful. Keith felt a swell of pride as his big brother took his place. He’d always known Shiro deserved the spotlight. Everyone else was just now getting to see it.

“…As Coran said, thank you all for coming today. Many of you made long journeys to join us for a single evening. It speaks volumes that you would choose to spend your time here with us today.

“Today, we are here to do two things. Remember. And Celebrate. I’d like to believe we can leave mourning at the door, and do out best to enjoy each other’s company, and reminisce on good times and memories we’ve made, and will make for the future.

“I will keep my words brief, but I want to take this moment to remind us why we are here. We are here, due to the bravery. The strength. The compassion. The sacrifice. And the love, of one individual. Whether or not you know her story, it is because of her, we are all able to walk freely here with our loved ones.

“She lost her home, her family, her agency for her own life, and ultimately, her life itself. But every time, every action and decision she made, every time I would see her push forward, I knew it was never to try and make up for her own life’s tragedies. She was a force of nature that the universe itself could not handle. Her drive, was to make sure each living creature in every system, had a chance for happiness that was robbed from her.

“And while many of us, sad, grieving, or angry at her fate, wish we could somehow create justice for what she did, I know, deep down, that’s not what she would want.”

Keith looked to his friends. Pidge lifted up her glasses, wiping her eyes. Hunk already has a tissue held up to his nose. Lance-…

Lance looked tired. He was looking up at Shiro, eyes trained on him, but unfocused like he was looking right through him. Keith’s chest knotted as he gave his attention back to the stage.

“She would want us, not to think of her, but to think for ourselves. Her last gift to the universe, to reality itself, was to allow us to have our homes. Our families. Our agencies. And our lives, to live out to their fullest extent.

“As I said, let’s not give in to sadness today, but celebrate her life the way she would want us to: by celebrating us. Each one of us may be a single part of this ever-expanding universe…. But all it takes is one person, to change the entire course of time, and space. We have done so much in these past three years. And thanks to her, we can continue and change it further.

“So remember, the universe may be large, but YOU are part of it. A small part that can cause ripples of change and prosperity for years to come. Do so, in honor of one who believed in everyone.”

Shiro stopped. Composed. Breathed. And released.

“Long may we cherish her. Princess Allura of Altea. Defender of the Universe.”

Thunderous applause broke from the crowd. A standing ovation waved up as Shiro looked out towards them.

The four in front stood as well, Pidge and Hunk leaning into each other for support, applauding quite loudly.

Keith clapped lightly, finding his eyes drifting back over to Lance.

His chest contorted painfully.

Lance was looking straightforward, eyes focused on nothing. They were glossy and tinged with red, but unmoving. Until Keith saw a single tear fall down his face, passing over his teal freckle.

Keith had to look away, his eyes starting to sting. Feeling guilty that it was probably not due to Shiro’s speech.

 

\--

 

“I. Am. FULL." 

Pidge relaxed back in her chair as her silverware clattered against her plate. Hunk’s smug mug beamed at her with pride, knowing he’d outdone himself. 

“Well, this year’s menu I tried an Altean-Earth mix, applying some Cajun spices to the steamed tubers, with a pork tenderloin that gets marinated overnight in some of the more…savory food goo. Nothing too fancy.”

“Hunk, I think the only thing you KNOW is how to be fancy.” Lance popped another bite in his mouth, chewing slowly, but let another quiet whine out because MAN it WAS good.

They sat as a team at one of the dinner tables. They surrounded the larger part of the courtyard, allowing for general mingling and socializing, but also leaving room for a small dance floor for those who wished to move and groove. The setting sun had led way for the lamplights to shine hues of blue and orange over the floor. Music surrounded the guests, a sound that, to anyone from earth, was like a mix of old sea shanties with Appalachia mountain music.

Keith took a sip of his drink, a light juice with a tart finish, as he looked over to Lance, “But are you complaining? Since you could eat this good any time you wanted, having Hunk as a friend?” 

Lance would’ve answered, before a large hand clasped his face, Hunk glaring. “Keith, don’t give this guy any ideas. I still need to make a living you know.”

“Considering we’ve saved reality time and again, you’d think we’d be set for life or something,” Pidge leaned back stretching in her chair.

Shiro gave her a sympathetic smile, not unlike her dad when she was stuck on a certain algorithm. “It would be too awkward to take that many handouts Pidge,” (She grimaced, recalling doing exactly that with wanting a certain Kill Bot Phantasm), ”plus it’s nice to really work for what you want rather than just getting-“

“Did you know that there is a 33.29 percent chance of at least 177 realities where you are pampered and glorified, and have all of your needs cared for?”

Everyone yelped as a noodle in a pink body suit slipped up in between Pidge and Shiro. Shiro was certain he has a millisecond flashback in the instant he was able to calm down.

“Oh...hello...Slav.” 

Slav eyed Shiro slowly, squinting as he did, “I also told your friend over there that he had a 2 and 13/26 of a percent chance that there’s a reality that you will actually be the first one to ask for a dance.”

“WHAT?!?” 

Shiro bolted out of his chair, careening across the floor for a tall, dark figure. The remaining four followed his path with their gazes before Pidge turned back to Slav, “Wouldn’t that just be two and a half?”

“I know what I said.”

Hunk set his hands on the table before raising himself upright. “Well, I’m gonna go make sure Shay has got everything ready before the dessert line comes out. She said she was trying her own cake recipe and I THINK she might have used hazelnut, so I’m gonna go...make sure... she’s got everything.”

Lance cocked a brow. “She’s not gonna let you try it ahead of time Hunk.”

“I KNOW. I said I’m gonna go see if she needs HELP.” And before he left, Keith swore he saw a wink in his direction.

Pidge stood as well. “I think I’m gonna go talk to some of the Olkari. They’ve been sending more students to the Garrison and I wanted to see if anyone has made a decision for a separate facility made specifically for their natural interface program.”

“I shall join you! In over 84 out of 120 if the realities where I join you, there’s a 64.49 percent chance of us coming back without anyone losing their left shoe,” his eyes contracted to squints as he looked at her, “...you DID put on shower clean deodorant this morning, right??”

................Pidge walked off to the Olkari in question, while Slav trailed her in haste, spouting how the chances of their survival depend on each person’s distinct odor.

Lance smiled and clasped his drink, taking a calculated sip. Keith eyed him, waiting for...he didn’t actually know. Lance looked out over the crowd. Slowly, that smile started to dip, giving Keith the incentive.

“So, anyone ask for your autograph yet? Shiro’s gotten maybe forty or more people coming up to him already.”

Lance smirked. “’Course man, can’t keep people off of me.” Funny, since Keith had been standing next to Lance since they got there, and he recalled they’d been pretty much left alone most of the night.

“Oh yeah? Well, I’ve seen your family roaming around. It’s been awhile since they’ve all been up here together. Have you gotten a chance to talk to any of them yet?”

Lances head started to turn back to the floor.  “Ah, a little, Luis is held up with his the twins, and Marco and Rachel can’t stop finding aliens to flirt with, and Veronica said she was gonna be busy tonight and wouldn’t tell me wh-YYYYYY?!?!”

Keith puzzled and raised his brow. “What’s wrong?”

“MY SISTER!!”

Keith turned to where he was looking, and gaped his mouth open, seeing what Lance saw.

On the dance floor, parading around in wide circles, were Lance’s sister Veronica, and in her arms, Keith’s second in command, Acxa, both giggling and smiling bright, blush on both of their faces, before Veronica laid a quick peck in Acxa’s cheek.

There was not a thought between Lance and Keith aside from a collective... _HUH???_

“Looks like you two just discovered warrior women like to keep secrets.”

A soft, but VERY familiar voice knocked Keith out of his stupor. He turned and looked up to see a tall woman, clad in indigo robes that hugged her figure, a pink sash running across her shoulder like the other foreign officials. He didn't have to describe her face; it was his, just in a shade of purple.

“Krolia! You mean you knew about this?!?” Lance squawked as he slammed the table. Krolia let out a quiet laugh.

“Wasn’t something I should tell.”

“Yeah, well Veronica didn’t tell ME anything.” Lance slumped in his chair.

Keith’s brow twitched, whispering, “Acxa didn’t tell ME anything either…”

Krolia eyed both of them. Not like the officer or warrior that she was, but a motherly look that made Keith’s skin warm, “Well, don’t hold it against them, they were probably just waiting for the right place and the right time.”

“Yeah,” Lance started, “but to leave her own brother out of the loop-“

“And Axca knows about being careful with feelings on missions-“

“Boys.”

Lance and Keith perked to a halt at the motherly command. Keith looked at her hesitantly, but also...REALLY? He’s an adult!

“We’re all here having fun tonight. How about you two join in on that?”

She turned and walked off, leaving a protest lodged in Keith’s mouth, before seeing her join with another Blade in similar robes and a braid that wrapped around his neck, eyes steady until they met hers, melting. Kolivan.

Keith beamed. He had a moment to realize, he had never expected his life to turn out like this.

“So, you know you can go off and have fun right?”

Keith turned back to Lance, who was staring blankly at the dance floor.

“What about you?”

“Eh, kinda tired. Think I’ll just sit and wait for Hunk.”

“I can wait with you.”

“Dude, there’s probably like, seventy people who want dance with you right now.”

“No there’s not.”

“Wanna bet.” An epiphany. “I bet you 2500 GAC that the first person you ask to dance with you says yes.”

Keith paused, staring blankly. “So you’ll win if I ask someone and they say yes?”

“Duh dude! First person, and you’ll be forking over the cash!”

Keith paused again, before standing slowly, turning, and holding out his hand.

“Would you like to dance with me Lance?”

Lance took a second to process, before crashing. “That-that doesn’t count!”

“You said first person.”

“Yeah, like, a guest?! Like I knew you were antisocial but come on mullet!”

“Why are you complaining? You accept and you win.”

And…Lance was trapped. It was either keeping his dignity and pay out, or gain some cash. He also realized how Keith basically just forfeited…

“Lance I’m practically paying you to dance with me.”

Lance raised his brow. Curious.

“That sounds kinda-“

“Lance.”

He stood, cockiness back in his face, that familiar glint of mischievousness in his eye. Lance took Keith’s hand, and Keith swore the air heated up at least five more degrees.

“Your lead. Just don’t step on my toes, left foot.”

Keith smirked as he took them to the floor; a slow, melancholy piano solo played alongside the string band. It was a song that you didn't actually have to know how to dance to, Keith silently thanking Romelle for the music choices; just feel the music and sway with the rhythm.

Keith grasped Lance’s hand as they started to move. Lance had nothing to worry about; Keith had spent years in combat to make him light on his feet (and made Krolia help him work on his ACTUAL dancing). They shuffled back and forth across the floor, Keith not ever getting too close to Lance. His periphery caught multiple pairs of eyes on them, like spectators watching deer in the wild; not making any sudden moves for fear one would run off.

Keith focused back on Lance, whose eyes seem more interested in Keith’s tie.

“So, you really haven’t talked to your sister yet? Last I was here you hadn’t called her in 3 weeks.”

“Well Garrison life is rushed and crazy. She’s got a full plate,” a frown, “…but free enough to start a budding romance apparently.”

Keith didn’t want to change the subject, but he was stuck between Hunk’s “balance the bad” and Shiro’s “tonight no sad”. He sighed, and indulged him.

“Yeah, that makes all my officers dividing their time between missions and relationships.”

“That shouldn’t affect work?”

“No, but the amount of gossip I’m bound to hear might.”

They sashayed around the floor. Keith spotted Hunk helping Shay set up the dessert line, a new frosted mustache on his lip. His eyes turned to Pidge, where the young Olkari she ventured to talk to was tugging her arm to the dance floor, herself looking red with embarrassment. And then they fell on Shiro, who was about ten feet away, laughing loud and hard in the arms of the same man he was scrambling over to earlier. Keith felt Lance sigh against him, his eyes trained on the same scene.

“You know...I think out of all of us, Shiro really got the happiest ending.” 

Keith paused his thoughts to understand what he heard, then, “…you mean we all didn’t?”

“No!! Nonononono I just meant that, if anyone DESERVES a happy ending, he should get it ya know? Like, he died like how many times and got tortured for a year and had his consciousness locked away in an infinite abyss; the guy deserves a break.”

Keith felt himself tense. He didn't want to, but Hunk’s advice started to creep up his spine. “Are we…AT, an end?”

Lance’s face scrunched in confusion as he looked at him, his lips pursed. “Well, yeah I guess? Go on an adventure. Save the day. Come back a hero. Boom. Happily ever after.”

“So, you think that’s an ending then?...Sounds more to me like a new beginning.”

Lance considered that. “I... guess that makes sense. Fine, happily ever beginning.”

Keith steeled. He wished he had his old armor, shield, something.

“...And...you don’t think _you_ deserve that?...A happy beginning?”

If Keith was a bystander, he’d thought Lance had gotten whiplash with how fast his head spun. His face looked like he had just seen someone take a bite of Balmeran cuisine. Keith was waiting on landmines before Lance spoke again.

“Wha...what do you mean? Dude, I’m happy. I’m great! The farm is doing awesome and the Altean kids I talk to love hearing about the fantastic tales of the Voltron Alliance. I’ve got Kaltenecker and the mice, plus like, Altea is BEAUTIFUL. There’s no war or fighting and...it’s great!”

“Ok but... Lance, the last time your family was here together was four months ago, and they were the ones who surprised _you_ by coming up here.”

“Well, my family had their own lives Keith, I’m not gonna make them spend all their time on worrying about what I’m doing.”

“Ok, ok, but…what about that gala a month ago? You had two of our friends you could have seen, and you just…didn’t go.”

“Keith, I SAID Kaltenecker got sick, it’s not like I could just get away!”

Keith started to get hot. Lance looked exasperated and he had no idea what to do. The music started to end as their dancing slowed, almost to a halt.

“I just… I want to make sure everything’s…fine.”

“Everything IS fine, Keith. You don’t have to worry.”

The song ended. Keith searched Lance’s face for…SOMETHING. But Lance just let his hands fall away from Keith’s sides.

“Good, uh…good dance. I’m gonna…gonna go get more juice.” And Lance trudged off, leaving Keith alone on the floor, surrounded by party-goers.

He almost ran after him, nothing in his head for something to say, until a firm grip slapped his shoulder.

“Having an alright time Keith?”

He looked back to see Coran beaming at him. He was decorated in a jacket, embroidered with pink accents and badges of status gleaming in the lights. His wrinkles showed age, but also years of laughs and smiles that Keith couldn't help but feel wash over him at he looked. He sighed, hanging his head a bit.

“Yeah, it’s…it’s been a great time Coran. You’ve really outdone yourself this time……she’d love it.”

Coran lowered his hand and placed it behind his back. He looked out over the crowd. His eyes seemed to focus on every little detail of the scene. “It means a lot to hear that. Can’t believe I’m here doing it….have to say, it’s astounding to see how far you’ve all come.”

Keith felt a tad guilty. He knew he was a part of the team…deep down. He also knew that for most of their service to the universe, her remembered being separate from said team; he didn’t get to see the same development Coran saw.

“You’ve also blossomed into quite the leader. Strong. Determined. A little headstrong and impulsive, but we can’t always have the perfect package. That’s what you’re teammates are for; to get you back where you need to be.”

Keith looked at Coran, who was glancing at Keith to the side with an all-knowing look, stroking his moustache. “Now if only there was a way to teach you how to use your words more…effectively.”

Keith sighed and laughed, fairly certain that, despite his best efforts to conceal, hide, and keep his walls, just about everyone had been able to take a peek inside, and see the truth.

“Thanks Coran. I’ll do my best.”

“See you do! As Pop-Pop Wimbledon always said, ‘the mouth is the most disgusting, but accurate portal into the mind—“

A piercing crack and a flash of light washed over the courtyard, enveloping everyone and causing an instant of black shadows to appear behind everything standing. Tables shook and anything not pinned to the earth fell, multiple noises of shattered glass and pots starting to clutter the ground. The music stopped. Keith had to shield his eyes, blinded, until it faded. He and Coran gained their bearings, looking around to assess the other guests, most of which who were pointing up at the sky.

Keith dared a glance up. His face turned slack. He could feel Coran looking the same.

“…By the ancients…”

A large red circle marred the starry night. Marks and strange writing surrounded it as it spun slowly. Dead in the center of it, four ships flew out. Sleek cylindrical vessels, they reminded Keith oddly of dolphins; thin bodies about the size of an earth passenger plane, with wings that looked as if they could move separate from the hull. They flashed with red lights that accented their stone grey color, which Keith could swear it was in some sort of pattern.

And they were speeding directly for the party.

 


	2. New Tricks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team is attacked by an unknown enemy. Everyone tries to get their groove back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally picked a tense! Hopefully this makes reading a bit smoother.  
> Let's see what out heroes are gonna get themselves into

Chaos

On the ground was pure chaos

As the 4 ships sped towards the courtyard, guests scrambled to find cover and loved ones. So far, at least whoever these invaders were weren’t attack-

...And then the laser beams started shooting.

Guests took cover under tables and behind pillars as flashes of red struck the ground, leaving smoking burn marks in their wake. The glowing red orb in the sky continued to spin, shooting out bursts of crimson energy that lit everything in a bloody light.

Keith took about two tics to assess the situation before, “Coran we have to get everyone out of here!”

Coran nodded, trying to gain his composure, but still in utter shock. “Yes, not a moment to lose!”

They both ran back to their table, Keith thanking the universe all of his friends had the same idea.

“What the quiznak is that?!” Lance scuttered to a halt, the juice he must have found now decorated his suit.

Another blast struck and shook all who were standing.

Shiro’s eyes were axes. “I don’t know, but we only had security for ground cover for the party guests. None of our prior Intel included anything like this.”

Pidge scanned the crowd. Fear and confusion peppered her voice. ”The next three galaxies over are allies. Whoever this is, we don’t know ‘em.”

Hunk’s eyes darted and shifted, seeing crowds run in a million directions. “Well whatever it is, they’re not letting up, and there’s a lot of people in trouble!”

Without warning, each one of the four ships overhead opened their hatches. About forty smaller objects shot out of them, crashing into the ground fifty yards from where the team stood, before rising to full stature.

“Holy crow.”

The figures stood about eight feet tall, clad in stony grey, metallic armor. Lights accented them with the same imposing red glows as the ships, wrapping around them like gashes. Each one had a solid red eye; shifting and focusing like a camera lens. A red jewel embedded each one’s breastplate, where something oozed inside the center. In their arms were deadly looking energy rifles, matching their armor. A few of them activated their weapons and a laser bayonet popped into existence.

The sentries started to advance.

Shiro was the first to act, “We need everyone out of here now!”

“Shirogane!”

A slightly round man rushed over to the team. Out of breath, he took a second before saluting quickly, a single eye focused with fear, the other shut tight.

“Iverson, what’s the status of the Atlas, can we get her airborne?”

“It was shut off after the passengers disembarked. The primary crewmates are heading there now, but they need you on board, Captain.”

Shiro had a moment of sinking terror and guilt. He turned back toward his friends and-

And each one of them looked back at him with more determination and resolve than he had seen in months. Their eyes surprised him.

“Go get our defenses up and running. We’ll handle everything here.” Keith’s jaw set as Shiro scanned each one of them. They had all been through the same hardships, the same experiences. And they were all more than prepared. Just because Shiro was terrified didn’t mean that he wasn’t proud.

“Alright just...do what you can, but I want all of you back right here when all of this is done understood?”

Lance smirked, “Sure thing, Dad.”

Shiro smiled before readying himself and following after Iverson, Coran striding by him in haste.

Keith turned back towards the others. A scene of destruction played out in front of him. The sentries shot and attacked at anything. Most civilians fled, while the warriors of the party marched a counter attack. Altean guards found spears and rifles to fight back with. Balmerans used their strength to enact barricades of tables to stop the assault from above, along with trying to topple as many sentries with their brawn. Keith was thankful to see multiple Blades go full ninja mode, slashing and dancing past the crowd to reach their mark and strike the invaders. The sentries were tough though, taking hits and barely seeming to move.

“We need to get everyone away from the attack and stop these things from moving.”

With just two swift movements, Keith shed his jacket and reached to his back. Revealing his Luxite dagger, it elongated into a Marmorite broadsword in an instant.

“You brought your SWORD?!”

Lance gaped, more concerned with the blade in front of him than the carnage to the side.

“I bring my sword everywhere”

“Yeah but TONIGHT?!”

“If Keith gets a sword I get my thing!”

Pidge ran back to her seat and scrambled to open the clutch she brought.

The creeping concern ran up Hunk’s back. “Wait what thing?”

Pidge gripped the clutch...except now it was clicking and morphing into what now looked like a double-ended dagger; an electric Vajra.

Lance was past outraged, “WHY ARE YOU BRINGING WEAPONS?!”

Pidge shot him a look, “You’ll be glad we did.”

“Focus!” Keith steeled. “Where’s the safest place we can get everyone?”

Pidge frantically scanned the scene, assessing each possibility, until her eyes landed on the trees to the left of the gala. “The forest! The Olkari can use their natural interface with the vegetation and make a shelter!”

“Nice Pidge, you go round up the Olkari. Hunk, you go help her and provide some cover. Get people moving and moving quick. Lance-“, Keith turned to a shocked Lance, surprised he was going be called on, “- you’re with me. We’re gonna help people and try to stop whatever these things are.”

Hunk and Pidge ran to their respective duties. Lance stared at Keith in disbelief.

“Uh, yeah, ok, but I’m kinda fighting with only fists here. Didn’t exactly get the ‘bring weapons’ memo in the invitation.”

“Then find something to use.”

Lance looked around, not sure he was going to find a blaster or rocket launcher just lying on the ground at their formal pow-wow. He DID see a large punch ladle. Picking it up, it at least had some substantial weight and sturdiness. He turned to Keith, who stared at him with seething displeasure at his choice weapon.

“Fine, let’s get moving,” he grumbled as he ran into the fray. Lance copied him, shedding his jacket, wielding his valiant Ex-spoon-ibur at his side.

 

\--

 

Shiro bolted to the bridge of the Atlas, Coran and Iverson in tow. Emergency lights were the only things lit at he entered the room.

“What’s the status of our ignition protocol?”

Veronica turned, her hands continuing to fly as they typed. “We’re still in power-on mode. Half the crew isn’t here yet and despite weapons online, we’re out of the line of sight of the enemy. No one was expecting anything like this!”

Shiro grimaced, “Are ANY of our defenses operational?”

“The MFEs took to their hangars as soon as the flash came. They’re about forty seconds from takeoff.” Sam Hohlt’s eyes were glued to the screen, watching the MFEs launch sequence procedure.

“How long until we can get the Atlas in the sky?”

Curtis rushed behind him, winded, taking his seat. “If we hurry, maybe twenty minutes, if were optimistic…”

Shiro gripped the dashboard; thoughts swirled in his head, making his normally focused mind a mess of anger and fear. They were caught off guard, but WHY? Who would attack them like this? Unprovoked and unprepared?

“Orders sir?”

Veronica’s voice snapped him out of it. Eyes were on him. Worry later. Focus now.

“Coran, you said there are extra pods outfitted in the hangar right?”

“Yes, but-“

“Then the bridge is yours. Get her flying and take command. It’s your planet, and you know what’s best.”

“Yes, but, what will you be doing?”

Shiro turned to the door, his arms swinging with determination.

“Whatever I can.”

 

\--

 

The Altean pod wasn’t any fighter jet, but it had a blaster and that’s all Shiro needed.

Turning on the engines and systems, the blue light painted his flight suit as he ascended, speeding out of the hangar into the night. He was a solid blue dot in the burgundy sky.

The four alien ships had slowed their approach, only due to the sentries starting their ground assault. From above, Shiro could see the mass exodus of guests running away into the forest, along with others attempting to find safety in the castle.

Shiro floored the thrusters as he reached the flight fight. The MFEs each took on a ship, cascading around one another like fighting eagles. For ships that weren’t that big, each enemy was outfitted with a red particle barrier that the MFEs struggled to break through. Red and blue shots fired in the night, Shiro silently wishing in the back of his mind that it was the ending fireworks show he was seeing.

While making only a little effort, he left the MFEs to their mission, not wanting to interrupt whatever strategy they had planned. He did open up his com link, “MFEs. Continue your assault on the enemy ships. Do not let up any firepower.”

A resounding “Copy” rang in his ears. His radar picked up three other Altean pods, trailing his own path.

“Everyone else. Do what you can to slow and stop the enemy. Civilians are a priority, so make sure your shots are focused. We need to buy some time for the Atlas to get operational. Move out!”

With that, Shiro gunned his thrusters, sending out five quick shots, already hitting each of his marks dead center. The sentries in question fell over, but slowly rose again, as if they’d only been mildly inconvenienced.

Shiro gritted and clutched his controls, diving again for another attempt, praying his team was making some headway on the ground.

 

\--

 

Pidge was smart.

The Olkari took it upon themselves to use their powers with nature to create shields and shelters for those running into the forest. All she had to do was direct them to areas that were overwhelmed and needed more assistance, leaving her able to send some shock bullets from her weapon at a few roaming sentries.

Hunk crafted a barricade of tables; a path guests could crouch and follow until they reached the safety of the woods. Every once in awhile, he helped a family escape, carrying some kids or elderly on his back himself. One such family, he thanked his lucky stars, was the entirety of Lance’s. Hunk thanked even more stars his own family couldn’t make the trip this year, sparing them from the chaos of shots and screams.

Hunk rushed back over to Pidge, who was just sending off another band of Olkari to cover the left flank of invaders.

“Ok, a lot of people are safe, but those things keep coming and nothing seems to be stopping them.”

Pidge hated when her mind failed her, but at least this time she could blame the abruptness of the assault for not giving her enough time to think. “I know, I know. It’s like the blows just get absorbed or deflected or, I just don’t know!”

Another blast from the sky hit a little too close for comfort, causing them to hop back a few feet.

“I just don’t get why they’re here, what the heck do they want?!”

“I’ve already figured that,” Pidge pointed up the way, “all of these sentries are facing and marching towards the castle. Whatever they want, it’s up there.”

Hunk panicked. They were literally having a ceremony for celebrating peace and stability in the universe; this was a cruel twist of irony.

Pidge looked back up at the sky, the red circle fizzling and shifting. Almost like-

“Hunk I need you to cover me.”

“What? Why?”

“I need to get some reads and images from that thing in the sky.”

“What? NOW of all times you want to do research???”

“I know, I know, but if I can figure out what’s attacking us and how they got here maybe there’ll be a clue on how to stop them!”

Pidge brought out her phone from her pocket and held up the camera to the sky. Pulling a wire, she hooked it into the side, and plugged the other end into her vajra, which now blinked with multicolored lights. It beeped loud and frantically. Hunk assumed it must have been picking up energy or gravitational waves.

An onlooker would assume Pidge was taking a selfie, in a scene of absolute discord and hysteria. Hunk would say that’s just Pidge.

He set his jaw and ran to the nearest table, picking it up with ease as he ran back to her, protecting his small friend. “I got your back. Do your thing and tell us all about these jerks.”

She smiled at him, then went straight back to concentrating. Whatever these things were, she WOULD find out.

She had to.

 

\--

 

Lance was finding out a ladle makes a great weapon.

In comedy movies.

In real life it really, freaking, stinks.

Lance was pinned to the ground underneath one of the sentries, rifle-to-ladle separating the two, and inches between life and death. Lance had to say years of hay hauling for Kaltenecker did a good job for his arms. Although his grip WAS slipping...

A *THUNK* overhead ripped the bot off of Lance, himself scrambling back away from it, bent ladle in hand. Keith, stood a few feet away, the bot struck with a sword through the chest. Keith huffed in exhaustion and exasperation, looking at Lance incredulously.

Lance shrugged, “I had him.”

“Sure you did.”

“Well maybe if you’d brought a certain cosmic-teleporting wolf named Kosmo along, I could have handled that marginally better!”

“Krolia said he was too big for the party and that he’d intimidate the guests, ok!”

The poor ladle in Lance’s hand snapped in half, the heat and pressure from the rifle melting it on an axis.

“Seriously, you need a better weapon.”

“Ok, let’s take a quick shopping trip then. I’m game.”

Keith walked over to the bot and lifted it up. The thing must weigh a ton, but it seemed like he put little to no effort into it, or so Lance thought. Keith emerged with the sentry’s blaster, shoving it in Lance’s arms.

“Will this do?”

Lance held it delicately. The last time he held a blaster, he was a universe-jumping hero. Now he was just a farmer in the dell. It had been too long, and he wasn’t like Keith who trained as his hobby.

He turned the blaster on. It hummed to life with red energy. He cocked it and the laser bayonet sprung out, crackling with power.

Or, maybe it was like riding a bike.

“Let’s do this.”

Keith smiled before more shots came flying their direction. Keith ran and leapt to battle, slashing and parrying each blow.

Lance set his stance. He brought the blaster up to his shoulder and found a bot twenty feet away. Closing an eye, breathing steady, he pulled the trigger and fired. The shot pierced the bot dead on the red forehead jewel, and the sentry fell to its knees.

Yeah.

Just like riding a bike.

 

\--

 

The fight in the sky was at a standstill.

Optimistically.

Reality said the MFEs and Altean pods were firing with everything they had, but nothing could get through the enemy particle shields. Shiro fired shot after shot at as many sentries as he could, but each just stood up again and continued forward. Shiro punched his com link, “Atlas what’s your status?!”

 

\--

The Atlas was in full panic mode. Buttons pressing. Lights flashing. People screaming. 

So standard protocol.

Coran dashed back to the bridge, “We’re just a couple of tics from full power. Hold off just a little longer! What’s the damage so far?”

“Most of the public is being evacuated to the forest. A third maybe have run off to the castle. Sending you aerial feed now.”

A screen popped up to display a scene out of a Renaissance painting. Panicking people ran in different directions, lasers flew through the air, and an enemy that moved slowly, but still doing a substantial amount of damage.

Coran’s sweat could have been on par with his case of the Slipperies. “How could this have happened?”

A *bzzip* from another com link opening brought their attention to the opposite screen.

“Attention Atlas, this is Pidge coming in.”

“Katie! Oh thank goodness you’re ok!”

“Dad, I’ve been analyzing that thing in the sky, along with the ships and bots. I’m sending you the details now.”

Flashes of numbers and images appeared on screen. The crew’s eyes darted over them, trying to glean any hint at motive, identification, something.

Coran looked back to Shiro’s feed, clicking the two together, “Why are they heading to the castle?”

Veronica raised a brow, “Is there something there worth anything? It could just be a terror attack.”

Coran’s eyes dashed back and forth like he was reading the longest and most thrilling novel, “No there’s nothing except— the Balmera crystal!”

Pidge’s voice crackled through the feed, “But that doesn’t make any sense, you can get a Balmera crystal anywhere. Why would they attack for that?”

“Not sure, but that’s the only thing in the castle and the only thing I can think of. Regardless, we can’t let them get up there.”

Shiro cracked in, “We won’t, but we need to hurry and —GAAARRRH—----“

A sudden blast popped through his com, and then silence.

“Shiro!”

A roar erupted through the ship, and the crew felt movement below their feet.

“Atlas ready for launch!”

“Then get it up!”

\--

 

He had to admit, even he has his moments of coolness.

As soon as the shot from the enemy ship hit Shiro’s pod, he was already calculating exactly how fast he was crashing, how far he was from the ground, and the exact time he needed to—

Shiro punched the eject release and careened to the side of the pod, rolling with the fall, before his pod collided and exploded against a pillar. 

Shiro stood, knowing his back would be telling him how stupid he was later, but he turned to see more sentries advancing. His brow stiffened, and he clutched his fist. Not only in anger, but for his electronic Garrison arm to activate and flow with power. He was a lion staring down his prey.

“You’re not getting in.”

And he pounced.

 

\--

 

Lance was at the carnival.

Each of his shots collided with a bot, sending electric shocks through them and bringing them to the ground. He looked out to the party. Most of the guests had all been evacuated. Lance could only hope his family was somewhere safe. The only ones remaining on the battlefield were the warriors of each group. He could see Krolia and Kolivan, along with a couple more Blades, slashing at a group of bots that were attacking a crowd of foreign leaders. He swore he saw Matt and N7 along with Nyma, directing traffic to the woods for shelter. He KNEW he just saw Shay bulldoze a bot straight into her dessert table, which said one, Hunk really should ask her out already, and two, she was MAD if she destroyed her own cake.

Lance spotted Keith, ripping his blade out of an impaled bot as he ran over. “We’re barely making a dent.”

Lance looked to the sky. He’d been happy to see the MFEs provide some air cover, but it didn’t seem like they made any progress. “You and the Blades have been able to bring some of ‘em down, and I’ve picked off a bunch. Why haven’t the MFEs shot these guys out of the sky already?”

“I don’t know. It’s like whatever they do just bounces off of them.”

“So what should we do? These guys aren’t exactly pushovers and there’s only like, six Blades here.”

Keith huffed and looked around. Each sentry was focused on something. Keith eyes followed their path, leading up to the castle spires.

“We’ll figure out an exact strategy later. Those things are moving to the castle. We can’t let them get in.”

Keith passed Lance, heading in that direction, Lance turning quickly to follow. They dodged and hopped over the debris from battle; broken plates and scattered food, sentry limbs that were successfully destroyed, and the piece that gripped Lance’s heart, a little alien teddy bear with bright blue eyes.

Keith was about five strides in front of Lance, pushing his trained legs to their limit. Lance pushed his too; his legs just more used to standing for hours on end than running that fast anymore, his distance between Keith and him growing.

Keith’s sixth sense kicked in, feeling Lance’s presence diminish as he approached the steps of the stage.

He turned, spotting Lance, hurrying as fast as he could behind him, but also the bot, with a trained shot right at his back.

“Lance!”

Lance’s face perked with confusion as a very determined and VERY angry Keith bolted past him. In the split second that Lance turned, Keith landed on top of the bot behind him, Marmorite blade stuck true in its center.

Keith was impressive, Lance knew that.

But right now, Lance was... _impressed._

Keith pulled his blade out of the bot, looking back at Lance with…honestly, Lance couldn’t place the emotion. Victory? Fear? Relief? There was a mix of things on Keith’s face that puzzled Lance, until it slowly melted into a smile. Lance returned one just as slowly. Some things just never change.

A flash of red and a loud *POW* cut through the noise. Keith’s eyes went wide as his smile fell, along with his body.  A sentry with a trained rifle stood behind him. 

“KEITH!”

Keith hit the ground, clutching his side, which Lance thought should NOT be smoking. The sentry prepared itself for another shot, but Lance was done, firing who knows how many blasts dead center on its chest. The jerk fell as Lance saw—

More sentries. With aimed rifles. All on him and Keith. 

Lance’s eyes stung. He gripped his own rifle tight enough he could be melded with it. He shook. He was tired. But out of everything, 

He was NOT fine.

Lance pointed his weapon at the closest bot. His stomach boiled with acidic rage, creeping up to his chest. He breathed deep and rushed. He felt himself snarl and twist his face uncomfortably. Man that gut feeling was hot. But also...felt right?

The bots charged their rifles. The closest one had his on Keith.

Lance roared as he pulled the trigger with everything his finger had. He expected a round of red lasers to hit their mark.

That... wasn’t what he got.

Light flashed all around him. The ground rumbled as a white beam ejected itself, charging through the sentry he was aiming at. And the bot after that. And the bot after that. The feeling in Lance’s stomach expanded with the light, tingling his skin and making him feel weightless. Soon enough, each bot standing upright in a twenty-foot radius, was not. 

Keith looked up, blinded by the white beam that thankfully was far enough over his head. As it died, he surveyed the damage. No sentry was standing, because no sentry was there, disintegrated by the light. Keith looked back at Lance, eyes wide.

Lance shone with an ethereal glow. His eyes sparked with energy, his brow creased in the angriest frown Keith had ever seen. His blaster sizzled with the same white energy, until it cooled down to its previous red hue. He might have been on the ground a distance away, but Keith’s vision landed and focused on one thing.

Lance’s Altean marks glowed bright white.

Keith grunted as he righted himself. The blast to his side hurt, but he’d been through worse, removing his hand to survey the damage of the burn. Armor really would have been nice to have, he thought, silently noting to start wearing something underneath all of his clothes.

He started, turning. “N...rrgh..nice shot sharp-“

Lance crumpled to he ground, the blaster skittering away from him. He wasn’t moving.

“Lance!”

Keith tripped as he scrambled over to him, his own wound forgotten and painless. He gingerly turned Lance to face him, looking for a trace of consciousness, but he was out cold. Keith put the image of the dulling marks on Lance’s cheeks as information for later.

“Lance! Lance, come on!” He rustled Lance’s form, his hold soft but strong, wanting only to see his eyes open up and tell him something like “I meant to do that”.

They did not.

Keith looked back towards the fray. The sentries that had been there were gone, but more advanced as fighters continued to struggle. He could see Krolia take on three sentries herself, Kolivan charging in to provide cover. Shots rained down still as the MFEs lost momentum, spiraling and regrouping to try different formations to halt the attackers. 

“It’s not enough,” Keith sighed. 

A rumble overhead whipped his vision backward, and his heart melted. 

A grand vessel of white and blue encroached the sky. Its lights flashed and sparkled as it came into view, growing larger in the night. Keith could see armaments click and shift, focusing, until thousands of orange shots fired, hitting each of the four enemy ships. Their shields, Keith cursed, still held up decently, but the sheer force of the assault pushed them back away from the scene.

The IGF-Atlas had finally joined the fight.

Keith sat both relieved and anxious with the two situations he was in. He looked over Lance again, no sign of waking up at all on his face.

“Lance...”

“Keith!”

Keith was never happier to hear Shiro’s voice. His eyes landed on him running in full flight gear, scraped, but otherwise ok. “I thought you were on the Atlas?”

“I was, but it was taking too long,” Shiro registered what was in front of him, “What happened?!”

Keith wasn’t sure exactly how to explain, “L-Lance and I were headed to the castle. We...we were ambushed and Lance…DID something, that blasted all the sentries away.”

Shiro bent over, resting his hand gently on Lance’s forehead. Breathing, Shiro could see, and otherwise okay. That still didn’t rest his unease.

“We’ll get him fixed up as soon as we can,” Shiro locked eyes with Keith, conveying as much assurance as he could, “I promise Keith.”

Keith blanked, but nodded. The sight of seeing Lance…er…a good teammate crumble, was a bit of a shock.

The Atlas fired blast after blast. The particle shields on the invading ships flickered with energy, but despite the efforts, seemed to remain in tact. Shiro stood, eyeing the sky. “What can we do? How do we stop them?”

A prayer answered, a turn of events, whatever happened, in that instant, the onslaught ceased. The ships no longer fired any blasts. Sentries halted their steps, becoming statues where they stood. Their red lights blinked and beeped in erratic patterns, until the lights stopped flashing and burned brightly.

Then the jetpacks popped out of their backs and that just made things weirder.

Each sentry fired off into the sky, jetpacks thrusting out of each one’s back, until they formed a line going back into the ships they emerged from.

Keith and Shiro watched the same scene, baffled at what they were seeing.

“They’re-“

“-retreating.”

 

\--

 

Shielding Pidge from the sentries wasn’t a hard job; it was her constant moving around to get the reads she needed that made things difficult for Hunk. Most of the people he helped evacuate were safe in the forest, so the only ones left of the field were either fighting the enemy, or Pidge doing Pidge-science things.

“Pidge, might wanna hurry this up?! Kinda a life or death situation here!”

Pidge heard him, and knew she was taking a long time. If everyone could just stand still so she could get a proper analysis on the orb in the sky-

Looks like she got her wish when the sentries stopped dead still.

Hunk and her blinked, since not a second ago, these bots were bent on pretty much killing everything in sight.

Then the jetpacks came out.

Hunk’s jaw dropped as they looked at the sentries start to fly up into the air. Pidge perked as she realized, “We need to grab one of those bots.”

“What?!”  
But she was already running for a sentry still on the ground, its pack activating for flight and rising slowly. Pidge ran and jumped at it, grabbing its legs as it flew up, taking her along for the ride.

“Hunk!”

Pidge felt a VERY heavy weight grab her lower half. What she couldn’t believe was that the sentry was carrying her AND Hunk about 20 feet in the air. The bot’s ascent slowed immensely, giving Pidge enough time to whip out her vajra, and slash at one of its legs.

The leg severed, giving Pidge a new present of a left robot foot.

Which was the foot she was also grasping.

Which was now detached from the bot.

Which sent Pidge and Hunk plummeting back to the earth.

“Hang on!”

Hunk’s grasp on Pidge was a vise, and two tics later, she felt gravity’s sweet embrace as they landed. Groaning, she turned over to find her savior flat on his back, brow creased in pain.

“Hunk! You ok?!”

Hunk’s voice was tiny, squeaky, breathy, “I’m…I’m good.” A thumb’s-up gave Pidge the relief they could stick him in a pod later and he’d be fine. She looked to her hand, holding the robotic foot she gained, it’s energy cut off and silent after being separated from the main body. Whatever these guys were, there would be answers in this foot.

 

\--

 

Shiro stood at a loss. The enemy attacked with no notice, did a sizable amount of damage, and was leaving just as quickly as they came. The last of the bots entered their vessels, and each ship flew right back into the giant red hole they came out of, until they were out of sight.

Another blinding flash burst where the circle was, forcing Shiro to cover his eyes. A beat later, he uncovered them to see the sky…normal. Aside from smoke from the small fires here and there, the sky looked how it was just earlier that evening. Although, the spot where the circle had been looked –

A grunt brought his eyes back to the ground.

Keith shifted Lance in his arms, giving his face more space for air, when Shiro could see two blue slits open up, gazing up at him lazily.

“Did…did we win?”

Shiro wanted to leap. But he kept his composure, certain there were going to be things they needed to talk about later. “I don’t know bud. But, they’re gone. For now.”

Keith felt Lance sigh against his chest. A small huff of a laugh escaped his mouth. “Looks like we still got it, huh Keith?”

Keith couldn’t help but smile at his stupid, exhausted face, “Yep, looks like it.”

Lance slumped against him, steady breaths letting Keith know he’d be ok. He cradled him softly; close enough to catch a whiff of his calming, yet now sweaty, scent. His smile started to selfishly fade.

“Wonder if you’ll forget this one too…”

“What was that?”

Keith perked up and shook his head hastily, not wanting to look at the thoroughly confused look on Shiro’s face.

“N-nothing! It’s nothing!”

Not wanting to press that at the moment, Shiro turned his attention to the forest, where he saw multitudes of families and party guests start to emerge from their safety, the Olkari lowering the barriers they erected.

The best sight he saw was Pidge and Hunk, sprinting in their direction. Pidge yelled something intelligent, waving around what looked like... (was that a foot?)… in her hand, while Hunk screamed unintelligently (not a jab at Hunk’s IQ, of course, Hunk just had the habit of shouting random sounds when he was terrified).

His team was OK. Safe. In that moment, Shiro sat down hard, breathing out the deepest sigh of relief, before he would have to get back up to start cleaning.

It was going to be a long night.

 

\--

 

Normally, the clicking sounds of a keyboard were calming. An accustomed white noise after years of research that puts one in the zone. Now, they were an agonizing tick that meant more time passed and fewer questions answered.

Pigsty was a compliment to Pidge’s station in the castle’s computer room. Books stacked high and unstable in the corners of the room, showing titles about quantum theory and interstellar physics. Old parts and wires filled boxes for a use at some point in time, but she would never say when. Thus, most collected dust as they sat. Snack bags and drink bottles lined OTHER desks. The only clean area was her spot in front of the computer, allowing for prime concentration.

Pidge squinted at her screen, trying to glean ANYTHING from the data she’d collected, but all seemed to equate to a big fat zero of results. Slav darted around her, a ferret in a tube with too much energy and nothing to stimulate him.

“But if you REALLY had a grasp on the legs of one of those robots, why not simply connect your device INTO its leg, than ripping it off. That way, you wouldn’t have to try and power it on with a source that most likely will not be compatible with the interface-“

“I KNOW SLAV!!!”

“Any headway being made?”

Standing in the doorway, holding some steaming mugs was Shiro, looking a little worse for wear. His figure looked how Pidge felt. His normally shimmering silver locks were dulled ash, tufting and spiking in all sorts of directions. His bloodshot eyes were sunken with deep bags that made his face darker and his scar pop. When Shiro slouched, his muscles looked as if they were swallowing his head. His Garrison uniform was unbuttoned and a dirty undershirt peeked underneath.

Being up the whole night, assessing the damage from the attack, would do that. The sight she’d seen running back to her friends earlier that night was not a pleasant one; Keith gripping Lance in his arms, holding his limp body as he started to carry him towards the castle. Shiro assured her he was fine, but it still was an image that hit too close to her memory.

After those weird ships left, clean up was brutal as everyone found a job to do. Hunk directed traffic back to the station and into the castle for shelter. Pidge copied all the information she’d collected and sent it to her computer.

Pidge felt tired. Shiro looked it.

She sighed, looking up from her screen, “Not really. Dad actually left a few hours ago to get some sleep...I’m not tired.”

Shiro sleepily smiled as he pulled a wheelie chair over, offering her a cup of hot cocoa. “Well, anything you at least have a guess on? Knowing how much you like to hypothesize?”

Pidge took the cup, sniffed, and sipped loudly. The chocolate hit her tongue like a warm song, singing tones of comfort and sweetness across her pallet. She licked her lips and set the cup down.

“Well, I’ve noticed some things, starting off with that giant orb we saw in the sky.“ She clicked a few buttons on the console and a video feed popped onto the monitor. The red, glowing orb ominously illuminated their faces. “The patterns and waves are different, but the overall projection and discrepancy makes me think-”

“ I figured out that one Pidge. I saw it looked familiar too...it’s a Teleduv, isn’t it?”

Pidge nodded “Well, yes and no. At least I thought it looked like that too. The only thing is with our tech, the energy of a Teleduv portal radiates energy in a spiral, scrunching space to where we can, putting it simply, compress space and travel a huge distance in a split second. This,” she zoomed into the feed, showing an oozing, morphing red glow at the center of the orb, “has the energy shifting randomly with no distinct pattern.”

Shiro watched the images cross the screen. At least these images were a recording; the memory of seeing that terrifying thing in the sky made Shiro’s spine shudder.

“There’s also something else I found.”

Shiro looked at her expectantly. She typed more keys and new black images came into view.

“Back on Earth, I’d been catching some weird anomalies in the sky. I thought they were just some radio distortion millions of miles away cuz, well, we may have all this cool new alien tech, but even that gets faulty, so I just chalked it up to equipment error. But after that thing popped out of the sky, my reads showed they were near identical to what I found on Earth, just really close up.”

Pidge zoomed in on the Earth images, and moved it side by side to the Altea image. Shiro didn’t know exactly what he was looking for, but the images were striking.

“They...the stars look like they’re in weird places.”

“Noticed that too, so I did a little investigating.”

Another video popped. A scene looked like it was zooming into the night sky infinitely, like one of those old timey screen savers, giving Shiro a little vertigo.

“I sent a drone up to get a better look, what I got was...well...”

The drone’s camera shifted. It turned to face toward Altea.

Or...it should have.

The camera showed an oblong shape akin to a deflated basketball. Each shift of the drone changed the oblong’s shape, twisting the planet in odd positions.

“What the heck?”

“Yeah. The drone isn’t passing through any portals or anything, it’s still fixated on its coordinate, but for some reason, the area around it is distorted.”

Another image, from the ground, appeared on screen to show a highly zoomed in picture of the drone itself, distorted as well, looking like someone folded a pizza in half.

“Best way I can explain it, it’s like if a funhouse mirror was 3D, and you could be in the center of it. Nothing about you would actually change physically, er...at least you wouldn’t feel different, but the way the world perceives you is shifted. “

“You’re telling me that drone was still functioning?”

“IS still functioning. I left it up there to get more data. But that’s not all. Look at its timer.”

Shiro did, and had trouble keeping up. The camera feed’s timer was going faster than any clock.

“It’s only been about seven hours...but that thing is showing a full twenty-four have passed...”

Pidge nodded, “Both space AND time are distorted, right where that orb was. Our Teleduv tech doesn’t do that.”

“But then...what DID they do...?”

Pidge pinched the bridge of her nose. “I’m not sure exactly what they DID to get here or what that tech is, but my best guess to explain this...it’s like they popped open a pocket of space time in that spot, and when they left, tried to patch it up again somehow.”

“Like...a scar in space?”

“Basically.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense.”

“It doesn’t, but they’ve done it. And also makes me wonder exactly WHERE they came from, since none of it matches with our technology.”

Maybe the A/C turned on, but Shiro felt a distinct chill, scared of what Pidge implied. Not pressing that possibility just yet, he decided to shift the subject, “What about the sentry foot? Any luck getting it online?”

“Big fat nope. It’s not like I can’t crack an encryption or anything. I just can’t get in. I can’t identify it to run this thing on a program or get any data from it. It just refuses any attempt at a breach, shutting out whatever I do.”

“Told you that you should have plugged in directly.”

Pidge threw Slav the daggers in her eyes as he continued typing. Shiro was too exhausted to even try.

“So, we still have no idea who attacked us, and why.”

“I know Coran said it was for the Balmera crystal, but I don’t understand why they couldn’t just find a Balmera themselves. Why come all the way to Altea?”

Shiro had danced around this question meeting after meeting with who knows how many officers and officials. He was tired of hearing it. Tired of asking it. But for Pidge, it was all he wanted to answer.

“We’ll figure it out Pidge. You’re the smartest brain around, it’ll come to you.”

Pidge smiled shyly at the compliment, stretching the sleepiness away as best she could. “How’s Lance?”

“I was just about to go check on him. Wanna come?”

Pidge started to shift out of her seat, before a large noodle weedled its way between them.

“You two realize that we could increase our chance of survival in this reality by 32.28% simply by balancing the ratio of the color from that red orb with-“

“OK Slav, yes thank you, you just work on that while I go take Pidge for a break, ok? Ok.”

Shiro clamped both hands on Pidge’s back, wheeling her out of the room before Slav could start explaining how they would need to fill every crack on the Atlas in order to live.

 

\--

 

The finger in his cheek wasn’t necessary.

The hospital room in the castle was comfy enough. The lights drenched everyone in unflattering, dull hues, but were warm despite how they all looked. Lance’s lower half looked like a burrito tucked into the sheets of his bed. Keith stood back against the wall; arms crossed and scowl especially scowl-y due to the lack of sleep, a slouch in his stance as his side ached from the laser shot.His eyes were on Hunk, who had made it out relatively unscathed, a few bandages hiding scrapes and cuts from the night before. A newly bandaged finger rested on Lance’s face, poking at one of his blue freckles.

The cheek in question was not pleased.

“Can you please get your hand out of my face Hunk!!”

Hunk backed off, hands coming to his sides. “Sorry man, just checking for any glowy...ness. You sure there was glowyness?”

Keith straightened, “I know what I saw.”

“Yeah but… just seems kinda weird if he’s glowing like an Altean, since that’s never happened before. Does that make him an Altean?” He looked to Lance, “... are you Altean?”

“I don’t know Hunk! Pretty sure I’ve just been me most my life!”

“And don’t worry, you still are.”

Pidge walked through the hospital door, Shiro framing her as he followed, a smirk on her face. “...Your boring, lanky, human self.”

Lance deadpanned, “Har. Har.”

Pidge giggled as she went to sit beside Hunk on the bed, “We did some blood tests and I checked your DNA, purely for science of course, and nothing in it suggests any mutations or changes. You’re still a human through and through.”

Keith shifted forward, “But how do you explain the weird power up? You don’t just get magical powers out of nowhere.”

They let those words hang in the air awhile. The silence told them all they needed to know, but no one wanted to chance swinging the bat to break it.

Sometimes Shiro hated being brave.

“Maybe...maybe Allura did something…”

Keith’s eyes hadn’t left Lance. He was slouched over. His eyes dark with fatigue. Keith thought of shattered glass when he looked at them. He could see Lance knew that was the answer. It had to be. But Lance’s face didn’t want it to be true. Keith decided that was enough silence for now.

“Whatever it is, it’s good it happened cuz it bought us some time and kept us alive. Speaking of which, did you figure out who those invaders were?”

Pidge and Shiro hung their heads, Pidge apologetically looked up at Keith, “We’re still trying. There’s discrepancies in the tech but it should be similar enough for me to find a way to hack it….SHOULD being the word.”

“You’re doing all you can Pidge,” Shiro rested his robo-arm on her shoulder, giving a light squeeze, “whatever we do, well make sure we’re more prepared this time. I’ve got soldiers coming in for extra security. We’re evacuating the foreign leaders and any civilians to local planets.”

Hunk perked up, “You really think they’ll be back?”

Shiro shut his eyes, concentrating, “I’m not sure, but I’m not risking anyone if I don’t have to. They had the advantage of surprise and resilience, and then they just retreated out of nowhere. That doesn’t sit right.”

“They might have left due to the Atlas. It was pushing them back enough,” Keith knew it was a feeble hope, but even he was impressed with the power of their tank ship.

“Maybe...and I hope so. But I don’t think that’ll deter them for long. Right now we’re on our toes for anything,” his expression shifted to a smile, landing on Lance, “looks like I’ll be staying around a bit longer.”

Lance raised his brows, perplexity giving way too...was that anxiety? “Uhh, yeah, cool. It’ll be nice to have you around for a bit Shiro.”

Pidge leaned in a little too close, bumping Lance’s shoulder, “Hey, he’s not the only one! I’m the one figuring out who these jerks are. Plus I wanna be here if you go glowy again.”

Not the best word choice on her part, but Lance understood the bottom line was she was staying. “Thanks? Pidge?”

Hunk settled himself against Lance’s side, wiggling affectionately and wrapping his arm as he did. “Yeah, I heard a few dignitaries were sticking around, offering support. Someone’s gotta make sure food gets in their bellies. Plus Shiro asked me to help with some agreements on defense aid from other planets so I kinda can’t leave.”

Lance’s smile crept up on his face, but dropped to a question, turning to the other side of the room.

Keith stood with his eyes closed. The room was quiet for a beat, two, then, “I sent for the Blades to do some investigating. Krolia and Kolivan headed back to base to address the Galra and work out aid,” his eyes opened, locked with Lance’s, “I’m here to help however I can.”

Lance blinked. He looked around the room, faces smiling at him, for him, he realized. He could blame it on being tired, but the corners of his eyes started to sting, “Th...thanks guys.”

Shiro straightened while he turned towards the door, “Well let you rest a bit. I hear the doctors saying you’ll be released tomorrow, then maybe we can all grab a bite to eat together.”

They all nodded as the group headed to the door, leaving Lance to wiggle to a more comfortable position.

Keith was the last to reach the door, but stopped and turned, looking directly at Lance.

“I...wanted to say...thanks, back there. You did good.”

Lance didn’t hear compliments from Keith often, most of the time it was harassing him for washing his shower every once in awhile when he’d come over. So, nice change of pace. “Thanks man. I mean, I was the one doing most of the work, my spoon action was some of the best combat I’ve ever seen. Plus I DID fire off a giant laser cannon that I probably made up in my mind. You just kinda ran around swinging your sword. Pidge at least got us info about the enemy.”

“I stabbed like nine bots!”

“Hrmmm….,” Lance tapped his chin, “don’t recall you being THAT heroic,” before letting out a light chuckle.

Keith’s face twisted, Lance puzzled as to why. Also to why Keith was getting flushed if the room was a cozy seventy-one degrees. His thoughts rushed to Keith’s injury, hoping it hadn’t given him a fever. Keith sighed out a long breath, before composing himself, his shoulders looking….well Lance always knew Keith had broad shoulders. Today they just looked...especially broad.

“Just...thanks...you saved me. I can’t imagine what would’ve happened if you didn’t do what you did.”

A sudden rush brought Lance back to the moment. Keith vaulting in the air like a hero. Him falling after being shot. Lance screaming his name. The trained rifles on his back. The bright light.

Lance could imagine exactly what would’ve happened.

He looked up at Keith, trying to hide the traces of fear in his voice, “No problem man, you’d do the same for me.”

 _I would_. Keith thought to himself, but instead spoke with his eyes. Before leaving, he gave Lance a quick smile and wave, which Lance returned.

Thoughts swirled his head as he entered the hallway; who were the invaders? What did they want? Why did Lance suddenly get powers?

His thoughts ceased as a stampede of yelling people of all shapes and sizes mauled passed him, swearing he heard a quick “Hi Keith!” As they disappeared behind Lance’s door.

A cacophony of sighs, laughs, and an especially loud and motherly “DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED WE WERE YOUNG MAN?!” told Keith that the McLains could take it from there.

Keith turned the corner of the hall, smiling while he imagined all of those loving faces focused on Lance, hopefully making him feel like the most important person in the world.

 

\--

 

Lance felt like the worst person in the world.

His family had rushed in and coddled him for about three hours before leaving his room, asking if he was ok and how scared they were and what attacked them and a bunch of questions he didn’t have the answers to. All leading up to asking him if he’d like to go back to Earth with them in the evacuation, just in case. But…he declined. To be honest, he kinda wanted to be alone.

OF COURSE he was happy to see they were all safe and not hurt and just SO RELEIVED they were ok…that didn’t make the feeling of unease go away.

This kind of stuff wasn’t supposed to happen anymore. Lance came to Altea for peace. For no fighting. For keeping it together. For not thinking about-

Lance rolled over and looked up at the ceiling in the dark. He covered his face with his forearm. WHY TODAY? He was already an in an emotional state due to the anniversary, but to top it all off, invaders from who knows where decide to show up and start blowing things up.

Just like his life. Boom.

Lance thought about the day, the roller coaster of emotions that culminated in him firing a giant laser cannon out of nothing. Out of everything, he didn’t want THAT to be true. The idea that he could have somehow inherited…her…powers was the most dampening thought on his mind. He already kept the reminder on his face. He didn’t want something inside him too.

He rolled over and took a breath. His mind went back to the fight. Like he said he didn’t WANT any fighting anymore.

But.

Getting that blaster. Running alongside Keith. Back to back. Shooting down targets. He remembered feeling a little elated that he was able to get back into the groove as quick as he did. His eyes were sill sharp, grip still loose but steady. The heat of the moment. Rush of adrenaline. Keith leaping over him to stab a bot…it felt…

It felt like a part of him had come back…

…but he didn’t want it back. He didn’t deserve it back.

His eyes started to get heavy, and so he let them fall, hoping for dreams about milking Kaltenecker or even the mice running in on him in the shower. Something he could wake up laughing to...

 

 

\--

 

_Flash after flash washes the scene. Bolts of red lightning streak across a dark expanse of space. Power flows through him, yet its origin is unknown. It builds deep inside, threatening to burst. He wants it gone, but has no idea how to get rid of it._

_A voice fades in. Whispers soft. Slowly._

_“No...use it...”_

_He looks. No one is there. More flashes. Images appear. A battlefield before him. Dark soldiers march and fire. A red warrior charges. Grief. Pleading. Another flash._

_He goes back further. Light envelopes him. Shadows to his sides. Comforting. But also imposing. He doesn’t know what to do with them now. Fear. Sorrow. Heartache. A soft caress to his cheek. Tears. A face. A voice. The same voice. The same soft, familiar, loving voice._

_“Lance...”_

_..regret. Sadness. Guilt. And ultimately..._

_“Lance...,” urgently._

_Blue eyes. Her eyes. Looking at him. Sadly._

 

\--

 

Lance woke with a start, breathing deep and quick. He felt the sweat gather at his nape and back. He sat up, cupping his forehead, trying to remember the dream he just had.

All that went through his mind were strange flashes of light. Pretty sure he saw images from the fight earlier. That weird stomach feeling felt like it came back; he silently hoped it was just some sleepy indigestion.

His mind flickered to the rest of the dream, and dread filled his being. The scene that haunted many of his dreams. An infinite plane of light. His friends and departed allies standing around him.

...Allura.

Saying goodbye.

Lance brought his knees to his chest, gripping them tightly as he hid his face. He shook, slowly feeling the fabric on his pant legs dampening at his knees as he whispered into the night.

“...I’m sorry...I’m sorry...”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More mysteries open as a new enemy strikes!  
> Come bug me on tumblr and twitter about the fic @hoelko on both. Also so you can check out the cool "Netflix" posters for the episodes!


	3. Blast from the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Old faces pop up. Pidge makes a theory. Keith and Lance crash.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun, angst, you could say episode 3 is...a "ride"? Eh?.....you'll get it eventually

The grand hall had a vaulted ceiling, accented with the same blue lighting that adorned most Altean architecture. Electric lamps projected fire with holograms brighter and more advanced than LEDs. Black marble floors mimicked the vastness of space, with white crystals within them that sparkled like stars. The expansive room stretched out to a long hallway, culminating at a stained glass window that depicted an ancient juniberry festival, which washed the white walls with color when the sun shone through. In front on a dais sat the largest Balmera crystal they’d ever collected. It was bigger than the one they'd needed to build the giant Teleduv to transport the Galra main base ship. It was so big, it not only powered the castle, but gave excess energy to many of the surrounding homes as well, providing sustainable power that kept Altea clean and bright.

Hunk watched as Shay concentrated, her hand cupping the crystal as a small light emanated from the spot. He was half worried about what she’d find, and half in awe at how amazing she was. Lance had told him all about her decking a sentry with her hazelnut cake, and was silently glad he’d had a chance to taste it before it got smashed in the joints of some robot. Now she here she was, helping them figure out this crazy-alchemy-magic stuff Hunk only partially understood. Despite the growing anxiety and fatigue from the day prior, Hunk felt himself smile.

“Find anything?”

Shay released her hold on the crystal, looking up at it, puzzled, before turning towards him. “I found nothing. The crystal is no different than others. Strong, young, yes, but...I see no reason to attack this one specifically.”

Hunk stepped next to her, hands in his pockets as he looked up at the crystal as well. “Maybe because it IS so big? I mean, we kinda did need a crane to dig it out of your Balmera. That and like, fifty Alteans to help with the rejuvenation ceremony.”

Shay shook her head. “While I would never wish it upon any Balmera, there are countless in the universe. One could look anywhere and mine for what they needed. The...Galra...did.” All was silent, for a moment of grief, before she continued. "But attacking just to take one exceptional crystal is...excessive.”

Hunk rested his hand on her shoulder. She turned to him, offering a smile.

“This still helps. Thanks for doing this, Shay. I know you probably would have preferred showing off your dessert skills from last night rather than worrying about people stealing crystals again.”

She giggled, the noise filled with light and fun. “It is a pleasure to do so Hunk. My people could never thank you enough for liberating us and our Balmera. The least we could do is offer help to our rescuers, and...” She looked down, feeling shy, but then up again, now bright as the crystal before them. "Being able to spend time with you, with the freedom you helped bestow, have been the best blessings I could ever receive!”

Hunk was an engineer. He was smart. He could solve for Fraunhofer lines and jump-start alien tech with only a couple of wires - all subjects of which he could hold conversations about for extended periods of time. In this moment, with his hand on Shay, and his face getting beet red, the only intelligent thing that came out of his mouth was a small, “...ditto.”

Shay giggled again, turning to walk down the hall. “Come, you said we needed to make more small treats for our foreign guests.”

“YES! YES let’s-let’s uh, yeah. Let’s do. Just that. Right now want me to lead I’ll lead ok let’s go.”

Hunk’s toy soldier march would have been funny, except Shay didn’t know what a toy soldier was. So she just beamed at the skip in his step, following behind him while trying to match his happy jaunt.

 

\--

 

“I understand all of your concerns, and believe me we are investigating around the clock-“

Another round of rabbles cut Shiro off. The many dignitaries that were still on Altea sat at the dining table of the castle, loudly voicing their protests on the subject of the attack.

“How could this have happened?!”

“Where was your security?! My people were in terrible danger!”

“What enemies have you not told us about?!”

Shiro was reminded of a class at the Garrison he had to substitute for one day, and remembered that those who were in a panic about something important (like remembering the population of a planet, or their test grades) took FOREVER to console.

“Please, everyone. I assure  you with utmost honesty that this was a surprise to all of us. We had no idea this would happen, but have taken every precaution to defend everyone should they return.”

“They’re coming back?!”

…...To be fair Shiro was running on maybe three hours of sleep, so his overall diplomacy skills were a little fried.

A *whoosh* from the door and a familiar voice popped in from across the room. “He just means IF they come back, not that they will, but we’re prepared no matter what.”

Coran brought in a tray of tea and light biscuits.  Romelle trailed behind with a pitcher of flavored water. After an evening of hearing Altean pleas of fear and disdain, he was quite content with doing something he always did best: offering treats and witty banter that could lighten any diplomatic meeting. They set the refreshments down on the table and started to serve their guests. “The Garrison and the Altea Defense Team are probably the best chance we have against any invaders. I should know! Pop-pop’s technology, combined with the current advances of today, put us at any advantage for those strangers and their lasers. But it’s all precaution, not saying we’ll be seeing those _flaptrups_ any time soon. Juniberry tea?”

One dignitary, Governor Kaba, a tall, portly gentlemen with muscular, blue arms and a face reminiscent of a hippo, crossed them in discomfort. “The same defense that struggled to make any impact while the enemy was attacking?”

Coran shuddered, realizing that yes, they had, in fact, had a hard time trying to fight back. Shiro tried his best to help.“We have more help than ever before now, thanks to the United Galaxies. The Blade of Marmora is putting all their resources to gain any information about this enemy.”

Many heads sitting around the table turned downward, with Kaba looking particularly unimpressed. Another official, a luminescent duchess from a planet where the inhabitants looked like humanoid beetles, shyly lifted her head, her voice fluttery. “With all due respect Captain, many of our planets are only three years post a ten-thousand year war. A sign of a possible secondary invasion is...troubling. And many of us are...concerned, about aid from those who in the past have tendencies of-“

“You believe the Galra to be a part of this?!”

All eyes from the table landed on Coran, who was pouring tea for Shiro, who also shot him a sharp look. Granted, Coran was going off FIVE hours of sleep, but that didn’t mean his diplomatic tact was any better.

Beetle lady straightened, maybe only a little offended, Coran hoped. “We do not believe the Galra were a part of this attack, no. We would just prefer to not rely on someone who was proportionally an enemy longer than an ally.”

Shiro straightened as well, with more tension and defiance in his stance. “We understand your concerns, but the Galra have changed. Their efforts for planet reformation and decolonization have been swift and smooth since their conception.”

Nothing was pleasing Kaba at this tea time. “Yes, and Zarkon was a kind monarch before taking control of the entire universe. With the drop of a hat, the entire star system could go back to ruin. And I’m not risking my people in another invasion. Unless we find out if this new enemy is strictly coming for Altea, or for conquest, my resources will be devoted to protecting my planet.”

Shiro and Coran lifted their gazes to look around the table, seeing many of the leaders nodding and muttering in agreement. They eyed each other nervously, silently hoping the other had a plan to get them out of this.

A quiet but distinct shuffle of the door brought Shiro’s attention behind him, curious as to the origin of the noise. He could almost swear he saw the door swipe shut. Deciding to ignore it until later, he turned back to the group, careful to avoid the excess tea starting to spill over his cup.

 

\--

 

Behind the door,  walking briskly and rigidly away from who cares what the heck they were talking about anyway, eyes burning, was Keith.

 

\--

 

Pidge’s eyes might as well be melted butter at this point.

She, her dad, and Slav continued to click away at their computers. Her concentration was so intense she could tell you how many pixels were in each character she typed.

Sam looked at her, proud but concerned, knowing she’d make herself go blind rather than stop. ”Katie, why don’t you go get some sleep? You’ve been at this for hours.”

“Dad, I have a friend who’s just getting out of the hospital and multiple friends with injuries. If this is something we can stop or prevent, I’m going to find out how.”

Sam sighed, looking back to his computer...and at Slav, who was right next to his face. Sam side-eyed him…

….

….”Maybe you should ask her about her theory? She says it has a 34 percent chance of probability that it’s correct. I say 30.” Slav wiggled his eyebrows.

Sam, curious, looked back to his daughter. “Katie?”

Pidge sighed as she turned, looking at her dad like the time she accidentally lost Matt’s physics book when she was ten. A face full of fear and guilt and apology.

“I...I think I have an idea. And if I’m right, we’re in trouble.”

“It’s all right sweetheart, whatever it is, we’ll figure it out.”

Pidge paused. Breathing deeply, she turned back to her screen and entered a few keystrokes. “You know how we were comparing that red orb to our Teleduv technology?”

Sam stood and walked over to her station. “Yes, but we ruled out them being the same.”

Pidge nodded. “They’re not, not exactly, right, but...I think I remember why those spatial anomalies seemed familiar.” Another stroke brought up two images - the drone feed of the lopsided Altea, along with an older feed and images: small bright discs floating and ripping with instability in space, very close to one another.

“Years ago, back when we fought Lotor in his Sincline ship over the quintessence field, he jumped in and out of space and left rifts and cuts in it  that threatened to expand and rip apart reality. We had to use the Castle of Lions just to stop it, but even then we lost three years of time. Looking at the anomaly,” Pidge moved her cursor over to the other screen, zooming in slightly, “it’s almost like a scar. A twisted and crudely patched version of space time, since the area makes anything that goes through it warped, and time around it speed up slightly. It doesn’t affect anything negatively, per se. It’s just...an afflicted 4D space…”

Sam looked over her shoulder at the screen. His eyes went back and forth at the two images, and by Crow she was right. Sam could see how, theoretically, the cut spaces from the Lotor fight could look to be prior versions of what the invaders had created, with some room for error of course. But, if Pidge was saying it was “patched” space…

“Katie, what’s your theory?”

Pidge looked at her dad, feeling very small and just wanting a hug and a good night kiss to sleep away this bad dream.

“If these people were able to split open space time, I think... they might be from another reality, and have the ability to hop from another universe. Just like Voltron or the Sincline ship.”

Sam paled. He'd known she was going to say it, but still hadn't been prepared for it to be out in the open. “But, the only way to do that would be-“

“I already guessed that. There’s actually a similarity I didn’t pick up on until just now. See, we were able to travel to another reality due to Voltron and finding what Voltron was made of: a transreality comet. We found another one in that backwards reality where Slav was actually serious-“

“I am serious in the 2316 realities I have calculated, including this one!”

“-and Lotor stole it when we brought it back, creating his ships that could also pass through realities.”

“So you’re thinking-“

“-my guess is that whoever these guys are, they have a transreality comet too, or at least, found use for one.”

Sam looked back at her, his brain cogs whirring and clicking into place as best as they could. “If they really did have a comet, that’s probably the most powerful thing they could find in their reality. Why would they need to invade another one?”

Pidge pinched her brow, frustrated after hours of silently asking the same question. “I’m still not sure about that. They COULD just be invaders, and hopefully the Atlas scared them off. But those sentries were heading for the castle. Which also begs the question, WHY come for a Balmera crystal here when there are tons of Balmera everywhere, AND when you have a comet with power that dwarfs even the crystal we found for our gigantic Teleduv?” She gripped her hair as she sunk her chin to the desk, gritting her teeth, trying to feel anything in her tired, sleep-deprived head. A warm hand patted her back.

“I know, sweetie. You’re doing so much and you’ve gotten this far already.”

Pidge sighed, leaning back into the touch to look at him. “I’m just tired, Dad. We’ve been safe for so long and...and I know I’ve been working so much and being distant from everyone and...I don’t want my friends to get caught up in something again where I could lose them…”

Sam was always grateful for having children that told him everything. He never pushed them, but that allowed for a vulnerability that he could try to console as best he could. He smiled at his daughter. “And you won’t. You all are the fiercest and strongest warriors I’ve ever met. I’m proud of each and every one of you. You’ve seen existence itself almost cease, and you pulled yourselves out. You can do it.”

Pidge beamed at her dad. Turning, she gripped him in a tight hug, eyes stinging only because her glasses were poking her, of course. Sam returned it with a pat on her head. She was still his super-smart little girl.

The only noise in the room was the clacking of keys at Slav’s desk.

….

“Neither if you are wearing shower clean deodorant are you?”

 

\--

 

Keith sat atop the steps of Allura’s memorial. Guests paying their respects had laid flowers around the statue before leaving Altea, adding a pop of color to a creamy stone base. The sun hid behind her head, casting a shadow over Keith as he sat sulking. He found himself coming here often to think; the air seemed fresher and cooler, helping uncloud his mind. He could imagine her saying something encouraging… or something infuriating, that would in turn sound like encouragement. He could imagine all he wanted, but there’d be nothing close to the original.

Keith brought his knees up, frustration giving way to confusion to hurt and back again. Thoughts rushed through his head faster than he could focus on one alone. Anger flooded his ears. All he'd wanted was another somber ceremony. Some inspiring message he could take from it, some time cheering up a melancholy Lance, and then it'd be done and over with. Was that sad? Yes. But at least it wasn’t staring down a wave of prejudices Keith had thought were long forgotten.

He huffed, falling on his back, looking up at the clouds rolling in the sky. He debated taking a micro nap in Allura's shadow, halfway closing his eyes-

“Out here focusing?”

A jump brought Keith upright, almost bonking his head with the figure above. A laugh, deep and happy, sounded above him. Keith straightened and looked up, Shiro beaming as he moved to sit next to him.

Keith huffed. “Being patient sucks more times than it helps.”

“That’s why it’s a good lesson. Gives you a chance to keep up your diligence and consistency.”

They sat for a beat. Shiro could feel Keith’s tension persist. “You heard us talking, didn’t you?”

Keith shrugged. “S’what I get for wanting to offer Blade agents to the officials. Let them know how the Galra could help in defense. But I guess old wounds run deep.”

“They’re just looking for someone to blame, Keith. I don’t condone what they said, but they’re scared and worried about the threat of another invasion. It’s a mob 'fight-or-flight' instinct that has them all fixating on a common - and former - enemy, rather than the actual problem at hand.” He turned, smiling. “You and the Galra have done nothing but good for three years. I have my utmost faith in what they’re doing. Those officials know it too, and they see it every time you work.”

Keith blushed. Coming from the guy who was a guinea pig for the Galra for a year showed how far Shiro had come along. Then again, that was Shiro. He judged you based on your actions and your potential, not where you came from or the things you couldn’t change.

Keith’s anger faded, and he smiled at his brother. “Thanks Shiro.”

A pat to his back brought back old memories of the two of them doing just this: sitting and talking about each other's (mainly Keith’s) problems. Shiro would offer sagely advice and show concern over Keith’s well being. No matter how old he got, Keith would default to feeling like a kid in Shiro’s presence.

“So...wanna talk about how much you freaked out about Lance?”

Until Shiro started acting like a literal dad. Then he wanted nothing to do with him.

Keith sputtered and swore Altea must be going through global warming with how hot he felt. “That’s! No-what?! I wasn’t-pfff-I was NOT. I freaked like—I DIDN’T freak-not a lot-“

Keith noticed how Shiro’s face had that all-knowing look, his expression patiently waiting for Keith to finish. At some point, Keith had to remember how futile it was to keep something from Shiro. Keith’s words died in his mouth. He dragged his hands over his eyes.“Ugh...I would ask how long you’ve known but...my guess is that number is irrelevant.”

Shiro beamed and leaned back on the heels of his hands, looking up at the sky. “I’m not gonna pry into specifics. I was just worried because of how worried YOU were. You hung around him for quite awhile after we took him in.”

Keith gripped his knees tightly. Of course he was worried. Someone passing out right before his eyes was a little startling. Not only that...

“Do you...do you really think Allura did something? Like, that she gave him powers?”

Shiro hung his head. All he had to go off of was Keith’s word, so he couldn’t picture what happened. But from what it sounded, Lance channeled an energy he’d never had before. What was more, was that it was freaking Keith out.

“I’m not sure. Maybe it was unintentional. Like, before she passed, she wanted to leave a way he’d be protected.”

“But why now? Why not three years ago or just...whenever?”

“Well, nothing against Lance but, he hasn’t exactly seen much action aside from chasing Kaltenecker before last night.”

Keith couldn’t argue with that. He’d visited enough to know that the most exciting time he'd had since the old days was when Lance dropped a bucket in the river, and he and Keith had run a good half a mile screaming at each other to jump in and get it, only for them to push each other in. They'd lost the bucket, by the way.

“My guess,” Shiro said, concentrating, “whatever power he has, it’s been lying dormant, and during the fight, something triggered it. Oddly it  reminds me of the first time we formed Voltron.”

Keith thought about that. His hand absentmindedly moved to his side where his burn was. Lance went full flash only after Keith got shot, when their backs were to the wall...er...to enemy rifles. Shiro looked over at him.

“I know. I saw him too Keith. He looked pretty unsettled by it all.”

“I just...I know everything’s been hard on him. I just want him to-“

“Move forward?”

“...not what I was going to say.”

“But you were thinking it.”

Keith couldn’t argue, as he faced forward.

“Keith, you’ve been trying to cheer him up for three years, but so far...all you’ve done is re-apply a bandage over and over again. One of these days, you need to take it off and let the wound breathe. It’ll scar over. If you want him to be happy, that first step is to ask him where it hurts.”

Keith’s brow hurt. He didn’t want to. He didn’t like hurting people. He’d done it too many times in the past, he knew. He REALLY didn’t want to hurt someone when he also knew...that it had to happen. He’d prefer going through life making someone happy and just forgetting all the bad—

……….Dang it, Hunk.

Keith sighed, copying Shiro’s lean. “...Okay.”

Shiro smiled, looking back up to the sky. “Then maybe when you’re done with that, you can tell him the other part of why you’ve visited him consistently for three years.”

Shiro felt Keith’s embarrassment build. Sometimes being a big brother meant teasing your younger sibling about crushes. “I just mean...don’t wait too long. Sometimes...that chance slips away...and your whole life can change in an instant. So...for your own sake at least...not too long?”

Well, now he felt guilty. Keith remembered it: Shiro coming home after his proposal all those years ago. Happy. Glowing. Then months later, going to him and hearing about his muscular disease. Hearing that he and Adam broke it off. Trying to call Adam about the Kerberos incident and hearing nothing in return. Then coming back after a whirlwind adventure, and finding out the horrible news. Shiro hadn't had any time for himself to grieve. The war had to come first. But Keith knew there had to have been private moments when Shiro would let the pain in, and remember what he'd almost had.

Keith turned. “Shiro...I-“

“All I want...is for you to be happy too. Happy with the choices you make. Because, coming from experience, getting it out of the way leaves a LOT more room for better feelings and memories to grow.”

He winked. Keith couldn’t help but smile. For about a year and a half, he’d been hearing gossip about a certain crew member that came to Shiro’s place more and more often for dinner. About mini trips to planets and bringing back souvenirs because “SOMEONE thought you’d like this”. A voice other than Shiro’s answering the phone when Keith would call.

“I don’t know, I think Curtis’s opinion on some of those memories would be stressful work trips and horrible wait times at foreign stations,” Keith chuckled.

“Hey, he knew what he was getting into when I asked him.”

“Pretty sure he thought he was getting a knight in shining armor.”

They laughed, letting the breeze carry the tension away. A *beep beep* from Shiro’s pocket piqued both of their interests. Shiro pulled out his phone, an amused smile encroaching his face. “Pidge says Hunk has called an emergency lunch, and requests we all join,” a blip of a new text sounded, and Shiro laughed, “and asks if I could go grab Keith from wherever he is, knowing he never looks at his phone or responds.”

“I do!”

Shiro chuckled as he rose, offering his hand out to Keith. “Come on, let’s go get some grub.”

Keith took it and let himself be pulled up. The two of them walked side by side down the memorial steps, the sun coming out from behind Allura’s form, warming them as they walked.

 

\--

 

Lance stumbled sleepily through the exit of the castle. Yawning, he blinked at the bright sunlight from outside, having gotten used to the fluorescents of his hospital room. As his eyes adjusted, he looked out over to the mountains to the left of the entrance. He remembered telling Keith about how their tips sparkled in the winter when the sun would set, and Lance would swear they’d make a small rainbow over the skyline. Keith told him he would take them up there whenever Lance wanted.

_“Yeah, sure Mullet. I’ll let you know.”_

And...he never did.

Slumping, he walked down the steps, hands in his pockets. As he reached the bottom, he noticed two figures standing there: one small and bouncing, and the other large and holding a basket. Two tics later, Hunk and Pidge held Lance in a crushing group hug, Hunk able to pick both of them up and spin them around. Lance wheezed under the pressure of friendship. “You guys know you just saw me last night, right?”

Hunk set them down. “Yeah, but now you’re out of a hospital bed and walking around. Little victories. man.”

“For who?”

“Me, man! What am I supposed to do if my primary juniberry supplier goes under?”

Pidge smirked up at both of them. “We’re having lunch with everyone again today. We were just waiting for you to get out.”

Lance tensed. Half of his body screamed _GO_ , the other half whispered _go home_. He found many times those whispers were really loud.

“I’m uhh...still kinda tired guys,” he started, walking past them waving, “I’ll catch up with you later.”

A clamp to his shoulder halted his momentum. Turning, he saw a determined Hunk, big, brown, puppy-dog eyes staring into his soul. Lance thought it might be a trick of the sunlight, but a soft halo formed around Hunk's head, along with the already-present halo of his headband.

Lance looked down to Pidge, freezing in place due to a very different image.

Pidge’s caramel eyes seethed like they were left on the burner too long. She looked as though she was planning to hogtie him, strap him to Hunk’s back, and drag him with them should he say no. Lance gulped, wondering if it was worth the risk to bet against Pidge’s brain.

Good cop. Bad cop. And Lance was the perp to take in.

He sighed, smiling, appreciating their tenacity. It’s what made them both fantastic scientists. “Alright, you got me. So where are we going?”

“The dunes. I haven’t seen them in a long time and Hunk says they’ve shifted a LOT since then.”

Lance bawked, “The dunes?! Why pick the most boring place?”

“It’s not boring. It’s warm. Plus, I wanted a place that has a nice scenic route to get there. We can all fit on your bike, right?”

Lance paused in thought. Yes they could fit, but if the bike could START was another question. Keith had given it a tune up a couple of months ago, but Lance hadn’t taken it for a drive at all since then. The thought made him feel guilty, remembering how excited Keith was to get to use his hands for a project.

“Uhh, yeah we can. You guys sure about the DUNES though?”

“Positive,” Hunk agreed, “besides when was the last time YOU were at the dunes?”

“I-,” Lance raised his finger, but dropped it as the argument died in his mouth. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been there. Hunk and Pidge fist-bumped each other in victory.

“Fine, let's go get my bike.”

 

\--

 

The dunes were a large expanse only about seven miles north of the castle. They stretched and met the base of the mountains, creating a stark contrast of white sands that met with the darkness of the rocky bases. Small oases with water holes dotted their trip, Lance blowing sand into the air as his blue hoverbike sped to their destination.

They arrived to see Keith and Shiro waiting for them, their forms in the shadows of Altean palms next to an oasis that glinted in the sunlight. They set up their picnic while Hunk brought out their meal of snack wraps and vanilla pudding, chatting trivially about how the largest dune had shrunk after their absence, and how new ones were getting bigger.

As their conversation ebbed and flowed, Pidge finally steeled herself for her reason to bring everyone here. Taking a deep breath, she told everyone her theory about the invaders, the weird portal, and the possibility of another reality attacking them.

She had at least been able to prep Hunk, but three mouths simultaneously stopped their chewing, and Lance’s mouth contorted as he swallowed his food down the wrong pipe. He hacked it out as best he could, coughing to gain air.

“P--Pidge! Are...are you crazy?! You really think those jerks were from another reality?!”

“It’s a guess, but I think the evidence stacks up. Warping space and time doesn’t just happen randomly.”

Lance rose, trying to exercise his emotions physically, else they would implode inside of him from sitting still. “But-but! Wasn’t that the entire point of us saving the universe! No more reality problems! Everything’s all good?!”

Shiro arched his palms together, bringing them up to his forehead in thought. “We saved all existence from crumbling. We restored each reality to before...Honerva...affected the course of space and time. Whatever technology these people had before then, they most likely still have it now...in a weird way, thanks to us.”

Lance still shivered at that name. No matter what she did it for, or the fact she was trying to fix her life, it was because of Haggar...er...Honerva, that the universe and realities got messed up in the first place. Because of her, Allura had to…

Lance shook his head angrily. “So you’re telling me, all that saving the universe, all we had to go through, is all in trouble again cuz some new hot-shot villain wants power or quintessence or whatever?!”

Keith looked up at Lance with the utmost sympathy. He was just as mad. He’d been on enough Blade missions to know not everything could be perfect, but at least they shouldn’t have to worry about something this big. He also didn’t want it to be true, primarily for Lance’s sake. “Lance, she still saved everyone. WE saved everyone...guess we forgot that stupid jerks live in all realities…”

Lance looked at Keith. The guy looked...despondent, which made Lance take a mental step backward. Keith was their heroic leader. The man that made the calls and took their triumphs to heart. Lance felt it, but he realized Keith felt it too: if they failed somehow, it should be their fault.

Lance let his arms fall. “I know. It’s just...frustrating.”

“I feel you man.” Hunk patted the side of Lance’s leg. “So, what does this mean? Like, do we need to fight them? Bargain with them? I mean diplomacy has been our motto for years, right?”

Shiro scratched his head. “Yes, but we also haven’t had any full blown attacks like this in years, either. If these people were interested in sorting something out, they haven’t really done a good job of letting us know.”

Keith raised his head. “So...you’re saying…?”

“We’ll probably have to fight.”

They let that hang in the air. The Altea breeze kicked up sand in the distance, white crystals sparkling and making tiny prisms shine in the sky as they did. The beauty of the day was an insult to their conversation.

“No.”

Everyone’s eyes flew up. Lance’s fists shook at his side. His face morphed with each new emotion he felt: rage, fear, grief. Hunk attempted to quell it. “Lance-”

“No! Okay?! Look, we thought we saved the universe and apparently, we didn’t. So now it’s time for someone else to take the reins and do...something. But not me. I’ve been done with that for three years, and I’m done with it now.”

“You weren’t so done with it the other night.”

Lance’s gaze snapped to Keith, who was looking dead in his eyes. Lance narrowed his. “What did you say _Mullet_?”

Keith stared him down, not backing out. “You fired shot after shot and hit each enemy point blank. Someone who’s DONE with fighting shouldn't really be THAT excited to get back to the action, should they?”

“Well, good thing I’m STILL good! Kinda hard to NOT do anything when some random space jerks come and attack innocent people! Doesn’t mean I want to keep doing it.”

“So if trouble comes knocking again, you’ll have a ‘do not disturb’ sign at your door?”

They were in a DESERT of all places, and the temperature felt like it dropped ten degrees.  Lance stared at Keith like he was looking through a scope. Was...was that a challenge?

Regardless, Lance turned, not wanting to take it. “I’m going home. Kaltenecker needs to be milked and I’ve got chores to do. Thanks for the food Hunk, good as always.”

Lance took maybe six steps before a lighter voice caught his ear, “I knew it, just doesn’t have what it takes anymore.”

Lance spun around, staring at the voice and the body he knew it came from. Pidge had her arms crossed in defiance and the proudest smirk on her face, so twisted and evil Lance would’ve thought she’d won the last Nobel Prize before the apocalypse. It took him another tic to register what she said. “I...WHAT?!”

Pidge untucked her arms, looking at her nails. “Just saying that I figured out of all of us, I didn’t think you’d lose the hero-mojo the quickest. Not that it’s a bad thing, but man, I was sure it was gonna be Hunk.” (“Hey!”)

Lance was having a hard time getting a coherent thought to form in his mind. Here Pidge was, taunting him, and Lance was already a wreck of emotions, but one seemed to flow and seep into his bones more quickly and fiercely than any of the others.

Rebellion.

Pidge looked up at him with a blank face. “You think you’re that good, to retire and not have to worry about anything. That you’re the seasoned hero and pilot that just gets to walk away.

“Uhh, yeah?! We did the hero thing. Our time’s over. Weren’t you personally training people to help become new heroes and stuff?!”

“Irrelevant at this point. I’m focused on you right now.”

“Well then yes! I’m a war hero and deserve a happy retirement without being called back into any line of duty.”

“Then prove it.”

…...It’d be good to point out that at this point, none of the others had made a peep of noise since Pidge spoke up. Hunk divided his terrified gaze between the two, darting back and forth like a ping-pong game. Shiro stared at Pidge in disbelief, hoping she would just quit while she could still call Lance a friend. Keith eyes were locked on Lance. He was waiting. Waiting to see what Lance would do. He wouldn’t have to wait long.

“...What?”

“Prove it. Show us you’re still that hot-shot pilot that’s still got it. Then maybe I’d feel some sympathy for you.”

Lance gaped, not quite sure what happened or where, but he distinctly felt the conversation made a turn in a direction directly opposite of where he was going. His face contorted after being slapped with confusion.

“I...uhh, well uh...fine! Fine yeah I can...do that sure-no problem.”

Lance smugly crossed his arms for a beat, before looking questioningly down at her. “How...exactly do you want to do that?”

Keith noticed that Pidge eyed him for a second, before she shifted her attention back to Lance. “Well, I see two bikes here. Maybe a good-hearted race to see who’s the fastest?”

Lance and Keith both perked as they looked at each other, a light dusting of rose powdering their cheeks.

“What?! Are you kid-“

“I never said I would-“

“He probably oils and polishes his dail-“

“Why do we have to prove-“

Pidge’s gaze burned through Keith, before winking at him, shutting him up. He’d practiced learning her physical signals, and Pidge’s yelled out loud and clear: _trust me_. He mentally sent her a thumbs up with a nod of his head.

“Uh...yeah! Yeah. I know I’m like...WAY faster, and stuff. Could beat you...SO easy?”

...How did the rivalry stuff come to Lance so easily? Keith would punch his own brain if he could with how stupid that sounded. Logic told him there was no reason to start something that didn’t need to start in the first place. It was a good thing that most challenges could rile up Lance, regardless of how fake and pitiful they sounded.

“You’re on, fly boy. I can take you on and drive you in circles ‘til your head spins.”

Pidge snickered and Shiro clapped her shoulder, changing his opinion on her innocence. Hunk, after so long of being terrified and silent, finally approached. “Ok, umm...so if we’re doing this, where are we gonna do it?”

 

\--

 

Where Pidge found a checkered flag on Altea, Shiro would never know.

He stood about ten feet in front of the two bikes, both riders perched and ready to go. Pidge and Hunk stood about ten feet off to the sides, Hunk raising his hand to his mouth for a cheering whistle while Pidge clapped in anticipation. No matter how much older they got, Shiro thought, he would still be the ringleader of absolute teenagers.

He cupped one hand, shouting, “Alright! The race is to the far dune at the end of this flat expanse.” He pointed down to the dune in question, a point that stretched three football fields away, “Circle around it, and come back here. First one to make it wins. You two ready?”

Lance snooted his nose up in the air. “Was born ready Shiro! Time to Razzle-Dazzle you guys with how great I STILL am!”

Keith only revved his engine twice in response.

Shiro held up the flag high with his robo-arm. “Alright, on my mark. Ready. Set,” he paused, seeing the shift in their eyes, even from so far away. They were two warriors ready to strike. “...GO!”

They both stalled two tics before ripping through the air and flying past Shiro, engines roaring and making sand sputter and cascade all around him, sweeping his hair back. Hunk and Pidge hooted and hollered as they sped off.

“Come on Lance! You can do it!”

“Kick his butt, Keith!”

Shiro brushed his hair back into position as he turned to look, Keith and Lance slowly getting smaller as they sped away. He smiled, being reminded of old times, of similar competitions taking place, just in different vehicles.

“Keith’s not the only one.”

Pidge moved next to Shiro. Hunk walked over to join them as well.

“We want the old Lance back too. We just thought...well, he’s always done better when someone tells him he CAN’T do something,” she shrugged. “I thought maybe starting up some competition might bring that side of him out.”

Shiro beamed and ruffled her hair. Despite her methods, Pidge was a kind soul. It was hard to see sometimes, but Shiro equated that to her scientist nature: the experiment may be messy, but it was the end results that proved the hypothesis. “Thanks Pidge.”

Hunk moved to wrap his arm around her, all three of them looking at their two dorks flying down the way. “...How long do you think it’ll take before they screw this up?”

 

\--

 

The wind flew through Keith’s hair in a way he hadn’t felt in years. The rush of adrenaline pumped through his veins as he went faster and faster. The sun beamed down and warmed his body. His heart was racing. He felt good. Blade missions couldn’t compare to the same thrill that biking or flying gave him. Shifting his gear, he chanced a look at Lance.

Lance was a firework. Explosions of joy and excitement burst on his face. His teeth glistened white and shone with an ear-to-ear smile. The wind whipped his hair around his head in a quite flattering way. His posture was shifted forward with anticipation and drive, his hands gripped tight on the steering. An occasional *WHOOP* escaped his lips, with a chuckle bringing out his smile lines afterwards. Out of all the times Keith had visited, beyond shadow of a doubt, THIS was the happiest he’d ever seen him.

Keith felt great.

Lance side-eyed Keith as he edged forward a bit, shouting over the wind and engines. “You still goin’ ?”

Keith smirked, face cooling down as the breeze brushed it. “Yup. You?”

“Going?” Lance noticeably shifted his gear. “I’m speeding up!”

He gained a bit of momentum to put himself a full length ahead of Keith. Keith steeled, revving and gaining back the lost distance. They reached the opposite dune as Lance rounded it first, Keith taking the outside and falling a bit behind. Coming out of it, he pushed full throttle with the turn to end up back next to Lance. Lance blinked, shocked at the move and a little startled with how Keith had picked up that gap.

Keith could play the game too. “We’re getting close to the end,” he chided.

Lance pouted. “Yup, we are.”

“You scared of losing?”

“I’m not scared!”

Lance whipped his head to show Keith he meant it. What he forgot was the vise grip he had on the controls, and thus whipped those as well. The result? His bike jerked and swerved to the left, ramming up against Keith’s and throwing them both off balance. Keith had about three tics to decide what to do before disaster hit, but, of course, all the could think of was-

“Lance!”

 

\--

 

The trio at the end of the runway watched a spectacle unfold. Lance shifting his bike a little too close to Keith’s, a scuffle of the two bikes lilting back and forth together, before both swerved into a nearby dune, both riders flung off as the bikes dug themselves into the sand.

“Eh, so not that long.”

They started towards the wreck, jogging lazily as they approached their “star” pilots. The bikes were stuck halfway into the sand in one dune, and their pilots were stuck halfway in another, their back ends suspended in the air. Pidge raised her phone for a picture as Shiro raised his hand to put hers down. Both he and Hunk bent over to pull the two idiots out, each sputtering sand as they were dragged.

“I --pppplllppttt---I had you on the ropes, until you--pah PAAHH--you screwed me up!”

“You--cauhhk--you were the one who--plaahhh--you were the one who swerved the bike!”

As they embedded burning glares into each other’s skulls, the sound of laughter to their sides cooled them enough to notice the rest of the posse chortling at their bickering (and maybe also at their sandy faces).

Lance and Keith brought their eyes back to each other. Keith cracked first, a light glow appearing in his eyes, while the sunlight brought out the bright violet shades that the shadows always seemed to hide. He smiled, laughing while he wiped away the sand at his brow. Lance slowly broke as well, eyes tearing up due to the sand in their corners, feeling the laughter deep and full in his gut. They let the breeze carry their shared happiness all around them; it was a deep feeling each one of them hadn’t felt in quite a long time.

They were together.

Pidge wiped a tear from her eye. “While your speed and endurance are commendable, neither of you actually crossed the finish line, so we can’t declare a winner.”

Lance stood, walking over to his bike to start digging it out from the dune. “No worries, just means we gotta go again, right Keith?”

Keith stared blankly. Lance gave him a cocked eyebrow and a crooked grin. A dare. He melted. “Uhh, yeah. You’re on.”

They all helped to dig out the bikes and headed back to the starting line.

 

\--

 

“--which leaves to reason that SHOWER CLEAN, not Spring Mist, holds a higher percentage of water, able to enhance your survival of burn-related injuries with a 22.15 percent increase, allowing for more opportunities to-”

Sam Holt was married, had two kids, a dog, had a PhD in astrophysics and quantum physics, had been to space, was kidnapped by aliens for years, fought in an intergalactic war, all before the age of sixty. And THIS - this being Slav ranting to him about reality theory and how deodorant could somehow change the course of the universe - is what caused him the most stress.

“Slav, I know there is merit to...most of your theories. But I highly doubt odor is a factor in universal outcome and quantum theory.”

“And I am telling YOU that almost every distinct confrontation in THIS REALITY ALONE can trace back to how the opposing forces smelled. Have YOU ever tried to fight an enemy that smelled like a garbage transporter running through the second stomach of a Weblum?”

….Sam tried to ignore it as best he could, keeping himself busy by analyzing the reports and data that Pidge collected from the anomalies. He knew she was upset, and while she’d always be his bright-eyed starlight, Sam was starting to see the results of time and age on his daughter. He never could have imagined his own children involved in war so young. But as Holts, they were tough, and pushed through to find answers. He knew she’d be okay; he was just desperate to help however he could.

A quiet beeping forced his attention away from Slav’s shower talk, his eyes darting to the opposite desk.

The robot foot Pidge had cut off was glowing and pulsing out a series of high-pitched notes. Sam’s eyes went wide.

 

\--

 

A fast gust and a cloud of sand brushed by Pidge. Squinting, she stopped her timer as the bikes behind her slowed. She counted. “Still a tie!”

Lance hopped off his bike and trudged toward her. “No way! We’ve done like five races HOW are they all ties?!”

“Sorry, and I’m too lazy to count the milliseconds. So, still a tie.”

Lance seethed at her as Keith walked over, hair swept in a million different directions due to race after race. He wasn’t complaining; each one had been more exhilarating than the last. He just remembered they also needed gas to get back home. “Lance, if it’s that big a deal, I’ll concede.”

“No way José! I’m not leaving ‘til you eat my dust!”

“Yeah,” Pidge set her hands on her hips, “but SOME of us would like to get home before it completely gets dark.” She pointed over to the sun dipping down into the mountains, making their color shift from a deep purple to an inky indigo. Lance sheepishly gave her an apologetic shrug.

“It’s alright Pidge. If these two still want to duke it out, we’ve got a ride.”

The three looked over to Shiro, who was standing shoulder to shoulder with Hunk...and now a third person that was leaning against a Garrison cruiser. He was about as tall as Shiro, with a dark complexion and even darker hair on his head. When he smiled, they could see his pearly whites from the fifteen feet away from where they stood. Closer inspection showed he had crystal blue eyes  surrounded by smile lines.

Keith was the first to make a gesture, waving his hand high over his head. “Hey Curtis! Did Shiro bribe you to come pick him up, or did he have Hunk call?”

Shiro ducked his head and blushed. Hunk and Curtis both laughed, the latter patting Shiro’s back in solidarity. “Nah! Shiro said I’d be in for a comedy show if I came. Really, you two don’t disappoint!” Shiro’s eyes glinted. Revenge.

Lance and Keith both shivered as they looked down and blushed, Pidge snickering next to them. A buzz from her phone ended the pleasuring torment. “Oh, perfect timing. Dad wants me back at the castle to show me something. We’ll catch you guys later. Hunk said dinner'll be in the dining hall. He’s got plans to try making Altean pizza.” She turned and scampered off to the others, all piling into the cruiser. Lance and Keith blinked as she left. Lance pouted as he turned toward Keith.

“So...rematch again?”

Keith returned Lance’s face with cocked brow. “How are we going to know who wins without a ref?”

Lance’s raspberry lasted four tics longer than it needed to. “What? You think I’ll cheat if I say I win? Don’t worry slowpoke, I’ll be fair.”

“We’ve been tying ever since the second race. You honestly think that’s gonna change?”

Lance swung his leg over his bike, looking back at Keith with absolute confidence. “One of these days someone’s gotta beat you, and I’ve been saying for years, it’s gonna be me.”

Keith smiled and shook his head, getting on his own bike and revving the engine. “Just say go.”

While that race would also end in a tie, it still looked pretty cool to see the two of them fly straight into the sunset.

 

\--

 

The ride back wasn’t nearly as comfortable, Hunk thought, as he figured hoverbikes lacked the ability to feel every bump in the road that the cruiser felt. His stomach had adjusted to years of flying through space. Over time he realized he also needed to adjust BACK to the norms of gravity...and the existence of car sickness. Curtis patted his back, trying to offer some support as they walked the castle halls.

“I had some motion sickness medicine in the glove box. You should have told me.”

“No, nope, it’s HURP...it’s ok. I’m good I’m--haawwwww...I’ll be ok.”

Shiro looked back at him compassionately, already prepping to call down to the kitchen to order some ginger ale. Pidge scanned her badge as they approached the computer bay, the doors swiping open as they approached.

“Hey Dad, what did you need-”

“Katie! Come quick and look at this!”

The distress in her dad’s voice sent Pidge running, pushing chairs out of the way and banging them into desks. The entourage behind hurried after her.

“Dad, what’s wrong?”

“All of a sudden, out of nowhere, your foot started beeping and blinking.”

Hunk looked to the ground. “Pidge’s feet are blinking?”

“No Hunk! He means the robot foot! But Dad, how?!”

“I’m not sure. We were just sitting here and it started going off.”

Pidge collected herself into a chair and frantically keyed away at the board. Eyes shifted across the screen, attempting to connect to whatever tech this foot was made of. Now that it was on, hopefully there would be some way to hack into it.

Shiro decided to take a different course of action. “Curtis, get the Atlas team on deck and ready for launch. Tell Iverson to get the ground cover ready for anything and start sending out any and all alerts. We can’t lose any time.”

“Got it.” He ran out the door, Shiro’s gaze resting a beat before he turned back to the screen and Pidge’s rushed tapping.

Hunk tried to understand what she was computing. “Is it a code? An alert?”

“Trying to decipher that now Hunk. If it is a code, then they’ve got it encrypted in multiple levels, and with how fast it’s going, I’m having a tough time keeping up.”

“Well, keep at it Pidge. Any information about this we can get means staying maybe a step ahead of whoever started this.” Pidge sometimes had a hard time shifting Shiro from dad-friend to commanding officer, taking his impersonal comments as a task to be completed.

And by Crow she HAD to complete this one.

 

\--

 

The sliver of light that remained over the mountains was just enough for them to see the finish line ahead. Lance pushed full throttle on his bike to give it everything it had, hoping that Keith’s tune ups would keep it in condition, despite today being the only action it had seen in months. But he kept pushing. Pushing meant finally, possibly, beating Keith.

And what a feeling that would be.

Keith’s eyes were dead on the finish, until he caught a glance to his side. He was neck and neck with Lance. The determined look on his face, his squared and tense shoulders, and the scrunch of his nose that Keith knew as concentration, told him Lance was putting more than just gas into this race. Contemplating for a second, Keith laxed his push on the throttle a degree, giving Lance a head’s lead.

Noticing the waver in distance, Lance took the chance and pushed the throttle full speed. He zoomed a full length ahead of Keith and over the finish line.

He clutched the brake hard enough to feel the jerk of momentum whip himself back. He turned, looking to see Keith coming to a slower, more graceful halt. Keith shook his hair back into place. “Nice Lance. Great finish.”

Lance squinted as Keith descended his bike, a hand outstretched to congratulate him. Lance hopped off his and eyed the hand, then shifted it up to Keith, who had an honest and proud look on his face.

“...Cheater.”

The surprise on Keith was comical, but Lance wasn’t laughing. “I...Lance, you won, how did _I_ cheat?”

“You said it, not me. We tie over and over again, I say ‘I’m gonna be the one that beats you’, then I suddenly win? Great sportsmanship man.”

Keith was caught.

“Look, it was just a silly race. Just us having fun.”

“Yeah...sure.”

Keith felt the air start to shift from the warmth of the day to the imposing cold of the night. This kind of silence was bad, he knew. But his skills with how to handle it were even worse. “Lance…”

“No, it’s, it’s all good. I’m just...I’m gonna just go home okay? See you later.”

With that, Lance popped back on his bike, revved the engine, and sped off.

“Lance!” Keith called, climbing on his own bike, chasing after him.

 

\--

 

Keith saw Lance slam the front door of the farmhouse as he parked. Taking three strides, he reached the porch and knocked. “Lance! Come on. What is it?”

A scratching noise and a couple of small clicks led way to the door opening a crack. Two of the mice hung on the knob while the other two waved at Keith from the floor.

“Thanks.” Keith made sure not to step on them as he walked through the threshold. Lance stood at the sink, scrubbing furiously at a pot. Keith remembered his and Shiro’s conversation. Guess it was time to play doctor and ask where it hurt.

“Lance, I know Hunk, Shiro, I mean even _you_ are better at talking and stuff like this. But, just tell me what’s wrong. Let me help.”

Slamming  his cloth on the counter, Lance flipped to face Keith. The photo of him and Allura shook on the sill.

“What’s wrong, Keith? You know what? YOU’RE what’s wrong! It has to be Keith the hero that wins it all, or Keith that hands out wins like coupons. Nothing I can get for myself.”

Keith shuddered. “Lance-“

“I can’t even win my own bet by myself! You have to go and rig a dance of all things so I win. I mean sure I get the money but that’s not the point!”

Lance stuck a finger in Keith’s direction. So much came at him that Keith figured trying to dodge would be pointless.

He breathed in and out. “Then what IS the point?”

“The point is you let me win races, bets. You let me eat the most dessert when you visit. You give me first dibs for the rides at the juniberry festivals. You let me get everything!”

Each sentence was an attack, and Keith, again, wished he wore some armor. _Bad with the good_ , Keith’s inner Hunk chided, _bad with the good._

“I...just wanted you to have those victories...I wanted you to...feel good.”

Lance’s smile was not happy or bright like Keith liked. It was twisted with sarcasm and pity. “Ha, Yeah. Sure made me feel REAL good about myself. Winning stuff I can’t even win on my own. Cuz I’m just the loveable loser, I get it.”

“Lance you’re not-“

“Just...WHY hang around, Keith?! I don’t need you handing me victories, practically giving me money, making me race around. And I don’t need to be checked on constantly.” A pause brought Lance’s gaze to the floor. “Look, if this is some kind of guilt thing after leaving the team for the Blades, I don’t need your pity.”

Shock and fear struck Keith’s face. “Lance, what are you talking about? That was YEARS ago. This has NOTHING to do with that!”

“Yeah well, even if it’s not, I’m not a kid who needs a babysitter.”

“You’ve never complained about it.”

“Yeah, well, how would that make me look? Kicking out a friend just cause I don’t want him here? I’m not heartless!”

“I’d leave any time you said so.”

“Yeah well then go right now! No one’s stopping you!”

Keith jumped, but then steeled. Eyes still on Lance, he slowly turned toward the door, placing his hand on the knob.

Lance sputtered. “You! No! That’s! What are you doing?!”

“Leaving? Like you asked?”

“That’s what I mean! Any time I ask you to do something you just do it! What happened to broody, stubborn Keith that took nothing from anyone?! Why do you have to keep making stuff up to me?!”

“It’s because I-!” Keith shut his trap before more came out. No. No he was NOT doing that here. Not now.

“Because...I...I wanted….WANT you to be happy…”

Something crept on Lance’s face. At first Keith thought it was confusion. On a closer look, he noticed what it actually was. Regret.

Lance hung his shoulders. “Yeah. Sure. 'Cause I’m not happy, right? Everyone’s noticed. 'Cause everyone else went on and succeeded and found their passions. Lance can’t win at anything in life, so he’s stuck being the loser everyone has to cheer up.”

The pain in his voice made Keith’s heart ache and cry. Just...why couldn’t anything be simpler? Why couldn’t making Lance happy be as easy as it was earlier, riding on bikes and laughing and having stupid fun? Why couldn’t that fix everything?

Lance’s voice started to crack, and slowly gained volume as he continued, “But that’s just how my life is, huh? Can’t win at piloting the Black Lion 'cause he doesn’t have the stuff. Can’t save our leader from being trapped in an inter-dimensional plane of existence so he almost ends up lost forever. Oh, and of course, can’t save the universe how he’d like to because the one person he swore he was gonna save is DEAD!”

…

…

Keith could see the tears welling up in Lance’s eyes. He couldn’t be the one to break this silence. He had no right to. So he let it sit. Sit for a long time while he watched the trickle of tears fall down Lance’s blue freckles. After a beat, Lance brought up his hand to wipe them away, sniffling into his sleeve.

Keith may have tried asking, but he really didn’t need to.

He knew EXACTLY what was wrong.

And the worst part was, it was the one thing Keith couldn’t make better.

He cautiously raised his hand, reaching out. “Lance…”

More sniffles. “Just...just go Keith. I mean it this time.”

Lance wouldn’t look at him. Keith let his hand fall along with his head. He said nothing, but turned to the door, feeling the cold of sadness and grief radiate at his back as he placed his hand on the knob-

A blast shook the house and everything inside, toppling items and pictures on shelves. A bright red light flashed through the windows and illuminated everything inside. Keith and Lance attempted to remain upright in the aftershock of the quake. As it settled, they stared at one another in terror, before Keith ripped open the door and the two of them bolted outside.

Red light bathed the land. The normally peaceful Altean breeze blew with a freezing harshness that gave them both goosebumps. And in the night sky, the same giant red orb that haunted them the night before, flickered and flashed with energy. Right over the castle pavilion.

Keith stared, disbelief rocking through his mind.

“Keith.”

He turned. Lance looked directly at him, a question in his expression. A true right hand, he was waiting for his orders.

“Get your bike. We’ve got to head to the castle.”

Lance hesitated before nodding, then rushed to his bike as Keith mounted his, both boys flying down the road as fast as their engines could allow.

 

\--

 

_3 dobashes earlier._

 

Pidge clacked at her keyboard as Shiro paced the room behind her. Sam kept his eyes on his computer, looking for any clue or key to break whatever weird encryption the foot was beeping out. Hunk sat nervously in another chair, not wanting to cut any concentration.

A swipe of the doors brought his attention to the back of the room, Coran panting as he rushed through the door.

“I’ve...ha...I’ve gotten most of the evacuation protocols in order. Atlas crew is ready for launch and MFE's are on standby.”

“Thanks Coran.” Shiro turned to look back at the screen. “Any progress, Pidge?”

The glare from the screen hid her eyes, which she could feel steadily turning bloodshot. “Barely, and each minute that passes it seems that code gets faster.” She pointed, and sure enough, the blips and blinks from the foot had gone from a  steady, heartbeat pace to flashing like a strobe.

Coran leaned in to look, producing a skeptical eye. “If it really is a code, shouldn’t there be some sort of pattern?”

Pidge knew he meant well, and she would tell him later that the irritation in her voice was due to stress, and not directed at Coran. “Yes, and that’s exactly what we’ve been-“

Pidge stopped. Ice water rushed down her back. A memory of a space junkyard and her junk centipedes filled her mind. A way to communicate. A simple and foregone technology. Something she’d easily overlook after years of researching super-scientific alien tech.

She opened a new program and scanned the room. A blip of a green check mark appeared on screen, confirming what she’d feared.

Pidge was a fool.

“It’s...it’s not a code.” She turned around to face the group. “It’s a radio transmission. And the signal’s getting closer. They’re tracking us!”

A blast shook the Castle and everyone in the room. Hunk kiltered and rolled in his chair, falling out of it. “What the quiznak was that?!”

 

\--

 

They jumped off their bikes before they even stopped. Keith and Lance ran up the steps of the pavilion, everything basking in the ugly red glow from the orb. Lance huffed, promising to go on more jogs after all this craziness was settled. “You..ha..you know where they are?”

Keith didn’t waste time looking back. “Pidge said her dad messaged her. They’ll be in the Pidge’s comp room on the mid floor. We just gotta hurry-”

Another blast shook the ground as they halted to catch their footing. Keith didn’t want to, knowing it wouldn’t be good, but he looked up at the orb, Lance following his gaze.

It wasn’t good.

A large ship, a full-sized battle cruiser, emerged from the orb. It was easily the size of the old Galra cruisers, it’s shape more streamlined and sharper. The main body was shaped like a triangle, with two wings that sat at the sides like tusks. Red lights wrapped as windows around it, flashing erratically as the ship moved. A control tower perched above the main hull. The Zeppelin-esque ships that they fought the night before circled it, the cruiser dwarfing them like ants. Underneath the hull rested two engines that elongated into fangs at the base.

Keith and Lance could only stare, slack-jawed.

What they couldn’t do, was prepare for the flash of light in the sky, a projection of a transmission screen appearing before them.

Keith and Lance’s eyes went wide, their hearts stopping.

 

\--

 

Back at the castle, Shiro shouted orders to a frazzled group. “Everyone! To positions! We need to get everyone to battle stations NOW!”

He turned to run out the door, determination fueling each of his steps-

“Shiro! We’re getting an incoming transmission!”

“What?!”

He dashed back to the console, Pidge already establishing the connection. A feed flashed on screen.

Shiro was unsure of what he saw, but looked to see Pidge and Hunk, faces twisted with horror, like they’d seen a ghost.

Shiro turned back to the screen.

In the frame stood the headshot of a woman. Her olive skin was smooth, save for some small wrinkles at her eyes that depicted some wear of age. Shocking magenta hair was slicked back out of her face to show off her prism eyes: shades of bright, incandescent blue and purple . A beauty mark dotted her chin. Shiro’s eyes scanned her face, from the pointed ears to the side of her head, towards the center, where-

Where two mint-green marks rested on her cheeks.

“Attention all officials and proprietary personnel of this planet. I am Commander Hira of the Inter-Dimensional Altean Empire. Surrender to us directly, and our business here will have no need for bloodshed.”

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun Dun DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNN  
> Well, let's see where this goes, eh?  
> Bug me on tumblr or twitter about all the madness, @hoelko on each.


	4. An Altean Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The enemy advances on our heroes. The team slips into some old shoes. Lance has a blast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I slip a Voltron-must wilhelm scream in this one, see if you can find it.  
> We finally meet our mysterious enemies, but, are they who you think?

“Why…...HOW is it always Alteans?”

Hunk’s teeth chattered, echoing in his skull as he tried to whisper through them. Seeing an old enemy he thought there should be no physical way to see again would do that. Commander Hira’s hooded eyes had that cold stare that Hunk remembered from last he saw her, when she ordered them dead. Didn’t really leave a great impression. After being on Altea for three years, meeting and making friends with  so many amazing Alteans, seeing one look at Hunk like she wanted to impale him with a tent pole was...jarring, to say the least.

Shiro steeled himself. “Commander Hira. I am Captain Shiro of the Galaxy Garrison. I ask you lay down your weapons so we may--“

“We’re not giving you anything, you fear mongering slave traders!” Pidge slammed her hands on the desk. Her chair bounced as she stood.

Shiro shot a confused frown at her. “You know them?”

Pidge’s eyes didn’t leave the screen. “We met these jerks after you disappeared. They made a hole in space with their transreality comet, and we went in to their universe. They’re evil and control people by taking away their free will,” Pidge creased her brow even further, shaking with the rage. But then she stopped; surprise and confusion washed over her. “But...but how? It’s impossible. How did you get here?! We took your comet before you could wreak havoc on all realities!”

An off-camera voice brought Hira’s attention to the side, listening to someone the rest couldn’t hear. She turned back to them after a minute. “Our intelligence says you must be confusing us with someone else, as we have never met anyone from this reality before.”

That took everyone aback. Pidge’s brain whirred like a centrifuge. “Liars! You tried to kill us!”

“If you claim to have traversed to other universes, like we have, then most likely you have seen a version of myself from a separate reality. It happens occasionally, running into alternate personas. But I assure you, we are the only ones with the amount of force and intellect to traverse multiple universes.”

Hunk gulped. “Wait, ANOTHER another dimension?! With more Alteans and those Alteans are evil TOO?!”

“Hunk!”

Hunk flinched as Shiro shot him an irritated glare. At least Hunk THOUGHT it was irritation. Shiro was probably tense more than anything else. Which honestly, Hunk could relate to.

Coran’s thoughts on the other hand, were a mess. He had only watched from the bridge of the Castle of Lions. He’d observed the team traveling into that cosmic hole in the sky. He never went into the other universe. To see a fellow Altean threaten them, after so long a peace...all he wanted to know was, “Why? Why would you attack us? Altea has always been a peaceful planet!”

Hira actually smirked at that. “Not all realities are alike. Some have more purpose and drive, while others, like yourselves, are content with stagnation and frivolity. But I am getting off-topic. We are here for one thing. Your universe, like many, carries an extremely powerful source of energy and quintessence. We’ve come to extract it.”

“All this for a Balmera Crystal?! You can find those anywhere.” Coran couldn’t tell if the amusement on Hira’s face was genuine or condescending. Or, it was probably both.

“Crossing over the threshold of another reality for something as common as a Balmera would be a waste of resources and time. We want this universe’s interdimensional ore, or as you preferred, your transreality comet.”

...Duh.

Pidge mentally facepalmed. She should have seen it coming as soon as she saw the spatial anomalies. If these guys were out stealing the strongest power sources in the universe, they wouldn’t set their sights on Balmera crystals that they could find just by flying straight.  

Shiro still wasn’t convinced. “If you already have a comet, have a way to travel through realities, why look for more?”

“That is nothing of your concern, _Captain._ ”

Shiro pinched his face into a scowl. She may have referred to his title, but the amount of sarcasm and spite in her voice was enough to make his blood boil. “Well we don’t have any,” he said, voice shaking and spitting with distaste.

Hira’s face never lost its coldness or poise. “You’ve already stated you have also visited an alternate reality, on top of saying you’ve acquired a second comet. Meaning you’ve had at least two in your possession at one point. Admitting what you’ve done with them will make this go smoothly.”

Seeing how most of the individuals in the computer room were either furious, confused, or downright terrified, Sam decided to try and help as best he could. “One of the comets was destroyed. The other is lost and gone. You’ll never be able to get them.”

Hira raised her brow again, the impatience twitched in her nostril. “Our sensors picked up traces of the quintessential energy emitted by the comets to this section of your reality. We’ve tried a few different areas in the past, but this quadrant stands out the most. The traces are weak, but fairly recent. Even if it was only one of them, you had one in your possession at one point in time. I would appreciate you not to lie about any information you have, lest you want it brought out on your planet.”

It was as if everyone in the computer room felt the same shock.

She was talking about the Lions.

Shiro clenched his fists. “But you attacked the castle, unprovoked. Why do you think we’d do anything you say?”

“In most realities, we find comets in uncivilized or remote planets that are easy for extraction. Those that are inhabited, we attempt to simply find and take them with only mild chaos, to deter from any opposition. The fact that we could not locate the comet with our initial strike, and your retaliation, was a bit of a surprise. Thus, we thought asking the second time might be more appropriate.”

Shiro’s left fist started to hurt, his nails driving into his skin. He had a brief thought he might break his right with the amount of tension he put on the sensors. “...Appropriate,” he gritted.

Hira’s eyes were frozen and sharp like the talons of a vulture. “So if you please, any information you have about the comet’s whereabouts would be appreciated.”

“We don’t KNOW where it is.”

“Then tell us what you DO know.”

Shiro faced a horrible dilemma. The war with the Galra was over. They hadn’t needed the Lions or Voltron for three full years, and it seemed like these other Alteans just wanted to take what they could and run. Telling them anything meant they might leave the planet in peace and leave their universe alone. Maybe. NOT saying anything would mean a guaranteed attack. Innocent lives would be at stake. The United Galaxies’ entire mantra was diplomacy over conflict, which these Alteans were throwing right out the cargo hold.

Shiro remembered all they’d been through. What _he’d_ been through. How his journey through space started back on Kerberos, meeting the Galra for the first time.

Sometimes trying for peace didn’t always work.

“We’re not telling you anything.”

Everyone stood in awe at their Captain. The raw determination in Shiro’s voice, mixed with a dash of confidence and a pinch of rebelliousness, could bring anyone to stand up and salute. There was a reason people followed Shiro. He wasn’t a leader that necessarily took charge or flaunted his strength. He believed in his team. That’s all. But it was that conviction that led others to strive for victory; for some reason they would credit him, which Shiro thought was a little unnecessary.

Hira’s eyes squinted in displeasure. Her breath huffed more quickly as irritation set in on her face. “Then I hope you have shelter to reconsider your decision, as we will be sure to have our forces attempt to...persuade you.” The screen cut to black.

Another blast shook the castle. Shiro righted himself. Yes, he was the one to tempt their fate. But he was determined to put up a fight. Even more so to win it. “Pidge, I want that video feed transcribed for later, can you do that?”

“Recorded the entire thing from the second she was onscreen.”

“Good. We’ll want to analyze that later. Now, we’ve gotta get everyone mobilized and ready to go, we’re heading into a battle.”

The computer room doors opened with a shudder, and two figures ran into the room, huffing and puffing after running up five flights of steps. Lance and Keith had their hands resting on their knees, catching their breaths. Even after training for years with the Blade of Marmora, Keith could say stairs were the worst thing ever. Unfortunately, the shocks of the enemy blasts short-circuited the use of the elevator, and Keith didn’t want a repeat of trying to shimmy up the shaft with Lance on his back.

Lance looked up to the group sitting around the computer screen. “Ha...did you...huff-huff...did you guys see...haaah...see who is attacking us?!”

Pidge got up from her seat. “Yes Lance, and no, it’s not who you think. Long story short but those Alteans aren’t the ones we met. These guys are from a completely separate universe.”

“WHAT?!”

“We’ll have time to discuss later. Right now we need to get to battle stations. These guys have more firepower now, but we’re more prepared.” Shiro rushed to the door, Sam and Slav following his back. Keith turned to look at him before he exited. “What do you want us to do?”

Shiro looked back at the team. All of them, like the other night, determined to jump into action as soon as gave them--

Shiro’s gaze landed on Lance. His eyes looked lost and glassy, like they might break. There was some fire in them, but his stance was reserved, his shoulders curved in like he was trying to hide. Lance looked more ready to hide in a hole than get to the front lines. Shiro cursed in his head, wishing there was a better moment to bring up a long overdue conversation. _Later_ , he promised himself, _get them moving now to save as much as they could. But definitely later._

“They’ll be sending ground troops to scatter everyone. Start on defending the castle and civilians and doing what you can. We’ll take the sky.” He ran out the door with his crew in tow, the rest of them left standing. Another blast of attack rattled the ceiling above.

Hunk raised his finger, “Uh, I’m all for saving people and stuff, but we are, yet again, left without weapons and armor. Well, I guess Keith has his sword. And Pidge you’ve got your, laser-dagger-thingy. But we’re still all in shirts and jackets and these guys have laser swords ON TOP of laser guns!”

“Perhaps...there might be something we can do about that.”

Everyone turned to Coran. He looked at them with a tinge of guilt, but it was forgotten as he straightened his form, swelling with pride, readying himself.

 

\--

 

Oh sure, NOW the elevator worked.

Coran packed them into the closest one and pushed down on one of the bottom-most floors. Rushing down the tunnel, Keith’s agitation grew as he was kept longer and longer from the battle. “Coran, where are you taking us?”

“Hunk mentioned most of you being unarmed and unprotected. Thought we might rectify that before you all go out to fight for your lives.” Hunk and Pidge gave each other a confused brow.

They reached their floor and rushed out into a short hallway. At the end, Coran punched in a quick code at a set of doors. “I didn’t know if we’d ever need these again. I mainly kept them for sentiments sake.” The doors opened and Coran rushed in, the others cautiously following behind.

The room was a small semi circle, only lit by a few lights. A console sat in the middle of the room with various buttons and lights blinking to life. In the concave of the room, five large tubes rose from the ground to reach the ceiling. Inside each one--

“Coran, no way…” Hunk’s jaw went slack.

Inside each tube, the paladin armor they wore so long ago stood proud and at attention, glistening like the first day they saw them.

Coran shyly twisted his hands. “I couldn’t get rid of them. In fact it was Shiro who came to me, asking to put his armor away somewhere for safe keeping. When you all came back from your last battle, I wanted them placed somewhere safe.”

“Coran,” the gratitude on Keith’s face shone bright, “thank you.”

Coran smiled as Keith turned to his team. “Alright guys, time to suit up.”

 

\--

 

The clicks of the armor getting into place brought back so many memories of battles long gone. Keith forgot how snug and fitting his armor felt. While his Blade’s armor was more cerimonial and perfect for humanitarian missions, Keith found his paladin armor to be more aerodynamic and built for sturdiness, something he’d be needing in a fight for his life.

“Need a little something to compliment those outfits?”

Coran stood at the console, hitting a button so the center opened, a shelf raising up. Four multi-colored bayards sat on the shelf. Keith blinked as he walked over to it, picking up the black one. It hummed in his grasp, ready for use,  like it sensed the upcoming fight. Pidge and Hunk rushed over as well, Hunk picking his up and rubbing it against his cheek affectionately, finally being equipped with a weapon to defend himself.

Keith looked down to the last one, the red bayard, realizing they were one short. Of course, the blue bayard was left in its Lion, now gone for good.  It dawned on Keith the reason there also wasn’t a sixth tube of paladin armor. A tube that would have carried a set in pink…

He turned quickly. “Alright guys, lets get--“ his eyes widened to see Lance, hands in his pockets, his pant pockets specifically, and not in his armor. Keith went slightly rigid.

“Lance, hurry up and get changed, we gotta go.”

Lance wouldn’t meet Keith’s eyes. He looked guilty, but he didn’t move. Keith’s mind went to a child who didn’t want to go to the doctor.

“Lance.” More insistently.

Lance flinched. He breathed out before speaking. “...I’m not going.”

He didn’t mean it to happen, nor did he particularly think it was the best time, but Keith could feel his temper in his blood start to rise. “What?”

“I told you guys, I’m done. I’m done fighting. You guys can go be the heroes again, but I’m not going out there.”

Hunk didn’t even try to hide the crack in his voice. “But, Lance...we need you.”

More shots from outside shook the foundation. Small bits of dust and dirt fell from the ceiling.

Keith didn’t try to hide the punch in his voice. “Lance, there are people out there risking everything to stop these invaders. Lives are on the line!”

“Then I’ll help get people into the castle or something!”

Keith took a step forward. “Just the other night you were a kid at the arcade, shooting down bots. Now you’re just going to sit there--“

Pidge gripped Keith’s arm strong and tight. If he wasn’t wearing armor, it’d probably hurt. “Keith, a team means wanting to BE on the team. You can’t force someone, _right?”_

It wasn’t so much of a question than a reminder, and quite fitting that Pidge was the one to give it. Keith closed his eyes in a grimace, clutching his fists. She was right, of course. And he didn’t want to push Lance…despite the fact he NEEDED a push, but Keith remembered they had more pressing matters to attend to at the moment.

“Fine. Just...do what you can for the citizens.”

Coran jumped and wrapped his arm around Lance. “Don’t you worry Number 4. Or are you Number 3 now, I get you two mixed up all the time. But don’t worry! I’ll make sure he’s got a job to do!”

Coran gave Keith a knowing and protective smile. Keith nodded, and turned to the door. “Come on guys, let’s go.”

They walked out, leaving Coran and Lance watching their backs.

 

\--

 

Shiro entered the bridge of the Atlas to a much different picture than last time. Lights blinked as launch protocols engaged. Weapons systems came online and started to already lock on close targets. Crew members clicked at their keyboards and relayed their procedures. Sam and Slav jumped into their seats, beginning their duties without a word. Shiro took his place at the bridge, looking out to the chaos of the ships and battle cruiser streaking the sky with red.

“Curtis, I need you at the helm.”

Curtis blinked at the order. He got up from his station anyway. “Where’s Coran?”

“His people need him. He’s better off making sure Altea stays calm. And I’ve seen you fly. No time to argue.” Curtis huffed with lighthearted exasperation. Shiro knew he was coming off a bit strict, but he also heard the tease in Curtis’s, “Yes, Captain.”

“Engines online and at full capacity,” Iverson relayed.

“Weapons ready and targeted,” Veronica followed.

“Energy core stable and charged. Ready for transform sequence at any time.” Sam checked.

“We are at a 71.365 percent chance of success, given the enemy’s current firepower and plan of attack,” Slav...finished. All eyes on deck went to him. He shrugged. “What? I’m just being realistic given the circumstances,” he swerved right into Sam’s face, “however our odds could have gone up marginally if SOMEONE REMEMBERED SHOWER CLEAN!” Slav’s shout was strong enough that he almost knocked Sam over due to the sheer wind power of his pipes.

“Enough. Systems are checked and ready. Get us into the sky.” Shiro placed his mech arm onto its ignition pad. Blue lights glowed as it hummed to life. The shifting and rumble from below his feet told him the engines were working hard. Targeting systems came onscreen as their elevation increased.

The Atlas rose into the sky again.

 

\--

 

Commander Hira stood at her bridge, watching a large vessel come into view. Its lights flickered blue and orange. If these lower forms were in possession of a comet at some point, she figured they would have an arsenal of some substantial manner. She was slightly impressed by the size of it, almost on par with the size of the castle it rose behind. Size, she knew, was also nothing more than a facade for intimidation.

A tall man walked next to her, holding a tablet with many numbers and symbols flashing in succession. His silver hair was cut short next to his temple, curling next to the blue marks on his dark cheeks. His bespectacled eyes were small, looking as if they were mainly closed most of the time. His smile was jovial, even looking down at rushing victims, mobilized enemies, and their sentries launching their attack.

Hira turned to him. “Renfrin. What have you analyzed from their weapons?”

Renfrin tapped on his tablet, long fingers brushing it like a piano player. “They have a considerable size, but it would seem no extensive training from their ground troops. Their technology appears to be compiled of primarily Altean engineering, despite us speaking to mostly non-Alteans earlier. In fact,” he pointed to the vessel over the castle, “that large ship is a combination of Altean and some...primitive technology. Nothing that would prove a problem to us.”

Hira smiled cruelly. Perfect. She turned back to the window. “Prepare the procedures for our interference systems. That should quell any confrontation.”

“Yes Commander.”

Hira looked on to the fray outside. She wasn’t a monarch. But as an officer, she could look on her enemies like the ants they were. And she’d be the queen to crush them underfoot.

 

\--

 

Keith led his team outside the castle, running past the entry garden to the front pavilion. The mess splayed out before them would have made a fantastic museum piece. Altean soldiers did their best to fend off the approaching troops, which were tripled in number since the last attack. The troops shipped from the Garrison did their best in their cruisers, attempting to run over bots and crush them underneath. Unfortunately, whatever the sentries were made of was strong enough to withstand the assault, getting back up slowly with minor scratches. Red and blue lasers flew across the way. Keith was sure he heard someone scream unpleasantly in surprise as another blast from the air hit the ground. Fighters in the sky cascaded and circled one another, the MFEs taking on the larger assault ships.

It had been a long time since Keith was in a war zone.

Hunk brought out his bayard, transforming it into a huge cannon that he lifted with ease. “Where do we start?”

Keith looked directly in front. A few Altean civilians were trying to run up the steps to the castle. At their backs, three sentries followed with energy blades, glowing a sinister and ugly crimson.

“Pidge, cover their backs! Hunk, cover ours! Move!”

Keith ran to action as Pidge followed. Hunk set up and aimed behind them. Two shots made an impact on the pillars to the sides of the pavilion, creating a pair of turrets that fired on the sentries. Keith leapt up to the nearest sentry, his bayard glowing to life and elongating into a sword as he impaled it. Pidge brought her shield up behind him, giving the Alteans cover to run to the castle. Once they were far enough, Pidge activated her bayard and dashed to the right, circling another sentry and slashing at its legs, causing it to stumble. Keith extracted his sword and backflipped off the bot, spinning as he did while his blade collided with the third sentry, cutting it right in its oozy, red chest.

Rising from the ground, he looked to where his blade struck and...a dark, swirling mass rose from the sentry’s chest, jerking violently before dissipating into the air. Keith had a brief moment of confusion before Hunk’s turrets gunned down all three sentries again, knocking them flat on the ground. He ran over to them, a terrified smile showing all his teeth.

“Well, we still got it! Right like, I don’t think I’ve even touched a blaster in three years and here we are just gunning down bad guys and Pidge dancing around their feet like—WAAAAHHH!”

A red laser passed a little too close to his face, the heat from the shot making his nose warm. Another bot aimed at the trio, its single jeweled eye burning at them.

Keith lunged, ready to swipe his blade and cut the blaster in two. The sentry anticipated the strike and raised its blaster out of the way, then brought it down hard and quick. Keith had about a half a second to bring up his sword to block, an electric bayonet crackling against it. Having the height advantage, the sentry pressed down, Keith straining to keep his footing with the awkward stance he was in. He parried and spun to gain his balance, not before he turned to see the same rifle aimed right at his face.

“Keith!”

His friends’ voices seemed miles away as the world slowed down. He heard the blast and saw a flash of bright light. He flinched, bracing for the impact and pain on his face. His body feeling weightless…

...Except it didn’t come. Well, the weightlessness did, but he peeked one eye open and...he was not standing in front of the sentry. He was about ten feet to the side of it. He watched the scene as Hunk fired his cannon and Pidge ducked under the sentry's legs to slash at its ankles.

Keith blinked, still highly confused as to why he was now so far away from the fight, until a large wet tongue lapped the entirety of his face, drool dripping down his helmet. A whine brought Keith’s eyes above him, a smile growing big on his face.

Kosmo the cosmic wolf now stood the size of a large horse. His bright blue highlights that accented the darker parts of his fur glowed purple in the red light of the orb swirling in the sky. His yellow eyes that most people found intimidating (Keith saw them as little sunspots), were big with affection and recognition as his tail wagged side to side behind him.

Keith patted Kosmos head, the wolf having to bend over so Keith could reach. “Thanks.”

Pidge and Hunk rushed over to him after they’d dealt with the sentry. Pidge huffed as her muscles ached from regaining their memory. “Keith, you okay?”

He nodded. “Fine, not a scratch.”

Hunk raised his arms (and bayard) high above his head. “YAY! Kosmo is here! AWW who’s a good big boy saving Keith and teleporting and stuff? You are! YOU ARE!” Hunk wrapped his arms around Kosmo’s neck, barely reaching the other side and nuzzled him affectionately. Kosmo in turn leaned into Hunk, a little too hard, as his strength knocked Hunk over.

Pidge looked up at the big pup. “Wait, if he’s here then-”

A large blast from behind them sent lasers into the enemy ships. Purple fighter ships zigged and zagged in the sky, assisting the MFEs and the Altean pods flying above them. The three on the ground remembered the ships used to have red accent lights that were supposed to intimidate enemies. Now, blue lights lit up the purple body of the fighters, showing a change of allegiance after three years of peace.

Pidge beamed. “The Galra are here!” For once, they were glad to hear that.

On the ground about fifty feet away, a small battalion of Galra soldiers marched alongside ally Alteans and Garrison troops. Some faces looked wary, seeing Galra fight side by side with them. Others, like Matt, N7, and Nyma, along with the old rebel friends, took to their sides and offered back up. Criss-crossing through the crowds, Keith noticed darker, masked figures slashing and taking down sentries like cherry pickers. Indigo blades slashed through them and brought sentries to the ground. Keith saw two members with robes wrapped around their armor, leading the charge. They may have been masked, but Keith could tell by the movements and limber physique alone that the one leading the charge (who just slid between the legs of a sentry, jumped, did a one-eighty spin, and decapitated it), was his loving mother.

Hunk whistled. “Looks like the Blade of Marmora have things under control.”

“Yeah but they’re gonna need help. Come on.” Keith turned to his wolf, hiking himself up and sitting on his back. Pidge turned and offered her hand, Keith helping her up and seating her behind him. Hunk lunged, stomach hitting the side of Kosmo’s back, who yelped in surprise at the extra weight now scrambling on his back.

“Sorry bud,” Hunk apologized as he positioned himself behind Pidge. He pointed out to the fray. “Hi-ho Kosmo! Away!”

Keith patted Kosmo’s neck. “Let’s go.” Kosmo ran across the pavilion, carrying the three warriors to the battlefield.

 

\--

 

Thankfully the prior evacuations from yesterday meant fewer people to worry about.

Crowds of Altean citizens clamoured into the castle for shelter. Children, elderly, families, and loved ones gripped each other tight as they entered the main hall. Fear decorated most of the older Alteans’ faces, memories of the Galra war swirling in their minds. What they couldn’t wrap around was the fact it was other Alteans causing the destruction now.

Romelle stood at the front door, waving people in and trying to calm them as best she could. Which was a little hard, as people rushed past her in panic and terror. “It’s going to be alright! Please don’t push and move slowly! We’ll get you all in!”

Further in the castle’s main hall, Coran had himself and Lance direct traffic to the main dining room to keep everyone together. They watched as families huddled close to one another, grasping at what they hoped they were going to keep.

Coran watched his people’s faces. It was an image he was too familiar with. He remembered the day the Galra attacked Old Altea, and couldn’t help but see a re-enactment of that day. At least this time they had more allies, and were, hopefully, better prepared.

He looked over to Lance on the other side of the stream of people. His eyes were tired. He slouched as he lazily directed citizens with his hands, offering an uneasy smile when someone would make eye contact. The boy looked like he was going further and further down the yalmor hole.

Coran attempted to wade through the stream, bumping and dodging as he did. “‘S’cuse me madame. Apologies sir-OH! Sorry that...that was your nose, wasn’t it. Sorry, sharp elbows and all. I’ll just _sneeeeeeeak_ by you here and...yes!”

Lance wasn’t sure if he watched Coran do some kind of awkward calming dance, or if he was just spazzing out. Whatever the case, Coran stood next to him, the crowd of people now slowing to a trickle of the occasional couple or family.

Coran straightened. “Alright there my boy?”

Lance blinked. “Uh...fine Coran. Just helping people in. Like you told me to.”

“And an excellent job you’re doing! Helping others in distress, something you all have always been fantastic at,” Coran squinted, “I just remember a certain someone who also liked helping people with a little flair. Some pizzazz. How you always say,” he raised a pair of jazz hands,”...razzle dazzle?”

Lance deflated, hanging his head. Coran rested a hand on his shoulder. “I could be wrong. Preferences change over the years of course. I think we all just want to understand if these changes are helping you my boy.”

Lance looked up to his eyes. This was a man who had been across the universe and back with them, had only one other person of his kind for the longest time, did some crazy feats of engineering (and occasionally acrobatics), and through it all, still checked to make sure the team was okay above all else. Lance melted under his warm hand.

“It’s...it’s just, this stuff was supposed to be over. Fighting, war...all of it was supposed to stop after we saved the universe. Peace and all that. If not then...then what did Allura...what was any of it for?”

Coran squeezed Lance’s shoulder lightly. “I understand how you feel. It’s like everything we tried to save is in jeopardy again. And I know it hurts, seeing as it was for peace and stability that Allura gave herself for,” he gave Lance a determined look, “but that’s why we have to be strong, and fight on. To preserve and uphold exactly what she sacrificed herself for. Can’t let a few ships firing lasers deter that, can we?”

Coran gave Lance a playful smile. He still felt downtrodden, but Coran meant well, and Lance smiled. His weird space uncle always had something encouraging up his sleeve.

“Thanks Coran.”

They stood a moment, the whimpers of families echoing in the room beside them.

 

\--

 

The Atlas’s assault on the enemy Alteans was going surprisingly smooth. Aside from the strong particle barrier, they were able to pick off multiple enemy fighters and drive back some of the ground forces. On radar, Shiro saw the MFEs take on the assault ships, Galra fighters providing backup if they got turned around too much. Ground feed showed a battle of troops versus robots. While it looked like their allies were fighting back strong, sentries would still stand back up like nothing happened.

The Atlas took some fire, the crew feeling the impact as they gripped their stations. Shiro regained his stance. “What’s the status on their barrier?”

Sam keyed in a few codes. “It’s still at full capacity. All of our weapons are making impact but, it just doesn’t seem to be enough.”

Shiro creased his brow, preparing himself for his next order. “Start the procedure for the Atlas battle mode. If we can’t break through conventionally, then we’ll do it with fists flying.”

“Yes Captain.” A resounding confirmation from his crew prompted Shiro to start his procedure. Placing his robotic arm on the console, he concentrated and let himself feel the power of the ship hum and sing. As his crew mates activated the battle sequence, Shiro opened the coms to the rest of the ship. “Atlas crew, prepare for battle mode transformation sequence.”

“All systems ready Shiro.” Sam looked back at him, waiting.

“Engage.”

 

\--

 

The Atlas’s transformation was a spectacle in the sky. Thrusters shifted and clacked into place as large arms burst from its sides, forming hands as it did. The engines shifted downward, long legs forming with boosters at its feet. Upper cabins slid into place as broad shoulders. Inside, hallways and rooms connected and changed to support the shifting structure of the ship. Power diverted from different systems to weapons and maneuvers. Peeking out at the top, a little head popped, the bridge now becoming the eyes of the mechanical leviathan.

In the sky, the Atlas floated at its full stature. A humanoid robot with a silver body, orange paint lining and accenting its edges. Blue lights blinked in its windows. Its eyes flashed bright, the power from the old Castle of Lions crystal energizing its systems, preparing for the fight ahead. With the flip of a switch, the thrusters sprung to life. The Atlas was on the move, headed straight for the enemy Altean cruiser.

 

\--

 

Hira was mildly impressed. Watching the opposing vessel switch from a regular battle and travel ship into a large mechanical warrior was not something she’d expected out of such naive aliens. She recognized the Altean aspects of the giant, however sullied by the design and engineering of the foreign technology it was paired with.

She wanted it shot out of the sky.

“Renfrin. Status of the interference programs.”

Renfrin tapped his tablet, looking up smiling. “Waiting on your signal Commander.”

Hira smiled, ready to see how well these foes would fair weaponless.

“Activate.”

 

\--

 

The battle on the ground was a nightmare. Alteans, Galra, humans, and foreign aliens alike pushed back against the enemy best they could. When one sentry fell, another got right back up in its place and continued their march. Marmorites danced around, slashing and watching the backs of their allies, keeping guard for any blind spots. Many Alteans started switching their blasters, opting for energy staffs for easier hand to hand combat. Garrison troops created blockades for the injured to retreat behind. It was too soon to say if there would be any casualties.

Keith blocked an enemy shot with his shield, dissolving it to run at the sentry and slice its legs off. He turned to see another with a trained shot on him. A flash of blue at his side was enough of a signal to put his arm out, touching fur, before he felt the weightlessness of Kosmo’s teleportation. They landed right behind the sentry, where Kosmo then jumped and slammed it to the ground, biting and ripping its head off.

Keith looked to his left. Hunk and Pidge worked out a system to ensnare a group of sentries. Hunk had set four turrets on distant pillars to shoot at their feet, causing them to back into one another. Pidge launched her bayard’s grappling hook into one of the bots, running in a circle around the group to avoid their blaster shots. After going about twice around, she ran and slid, pulling the sentries together as tight as she could.

“Now!” Pidge ordered.

Hunk set his cannon on the group, blasting a bright blue ray that burned a hole through the sentries, all of them falling to the ground in a heap. Hunk wiped his brow. “Phew! Think we’re making any headway?”

Pidge surveyed the battle, confusion setting in on her face. “The Blades are taking them out easily enough, but the ones having the hardest time are the Alteans and Garrison troops. It’s like their attacks are weak or something.”

Keith ran over to them huffing. “If we don’t do something, we’re going to lose on pure exhaustion. They’re too resilient.”

A wish granted, they all turned, hearing loud groans and whines from the sky. The fully transformed Atlas loomed in front of the enemy cruiser. The trio smiled with pride and relief. They’d dealt with plenty of giant robots in their lives. One was finally here to save them.

“Do it Shiro,” Keith whispered.

The Atlas raised its hand for an assault beam, charging its energy--

A fire red shockwave erupted from the Altean cruiser. It came out fast like the slash of a sword, stretching 360 degrees around the ship. The wave flashed and sped into the Atlas, passing through it, and even reaching past the castle. The pulse was so strong it radiated to the ground, shaking everyone and even toppling over Hunk. “What the QUIZNAK was THAT?!”

Pidge looked around. Lamps and signs around the courtyard short circuited and went out. Small shops in the distance went dark. The worst though: ally Alteans’ weapons shut off immediately, losing their charges. Garrison troops lost power to their weapons as well...new weapons she’d personally helped design with Coran. She looked up at the Castle, now a spire of pure red from the glow of the orb, its lights completely out. She looked through her helmet’s visor and analyzed the energy in the area. The only things powered on were the enemy sentries, Galra weapons, and their own. Everything else? Dark.

“Guys, they’ve shut off just about every source of power around here,” her mind rapidly put together all of the data she ingested, the theory surfacing like a bobble on the water, “I’m thinking they’ve cut the power to everything that uses Altean tech.”

Keith hardly heard her. He was looking up in horror.

The Altas flickered with red electricity. It was a frozen statue in the sky.

The enemy Altean cruiser started to advance.

“Keith!”

Keith turned to Pidge and Hunk, both looking at him expectantly. Kosmo nudged his side. He looked out over the battle, the enemy Altean sentries pressing harder with the lack of opposition. Galra troops brought themselves to the front line. Blades darted faster than ever to cover for them. But the bots continued to advance. Keith steeled and nodded.

“We’ve got to help.”

Pidge and Hunk nodded in agreement, brandishing their bayards. Keith brough his own out, and in his other hand, took out his dagger, elongating into his luxite sword.

They charged into the fray.

 

\--

 

If the rumbling of earthquakes didn’t scare everyone in the castle, the lights going out certainly did.

Alteans shouted and cried out in the dark of the castle’s dining hall, gripping their loved ones tight. Most preparing for another terror in their lifetimes, too close to the last.

Coran and Lance ran into the hall. Lance lit up the room with his phone flashlight, checking to see if anyone was hurt from the shockwave. Coran was a mess of confusion. “All the power is out. Not even the backup lights are coming on. They’ve must have done something to our energy systems.”

Lance shone the light on Coran. “How can they do that?”

“Well, a strong enough blast could cut our systems offline, but that would have to hit out generators directly. Whatever they did, it didn’t seem like it hit the castle.”

Lance creased his brow. “Yeah, but if they could shut off the power to OUR castle, who knows what else could--”

An icy prick struck Lance’s neck. He turned to the hall, sure that something had touched him. Something...was tugging at him. But he couldn’t see it.

“Alright there Lance?”

He looked back to Coran. “Uh, yeah. Fine. Did you feel something pass by just now?”

“Pass by? No, did you?”

“I...I think so, at least I think something’s here,” a realization, “Oh come on Coran is EVERY castle you build going to be haunted?!”

“First off, no. Secondly that was not a haunting, that was the corrupted A.I. of King-- LANCE! Your face!”

Coran pointed right at Lance’s nose, or at least as much as Lance could see him point; his phone light was facing the ground. “Coran, you can’t even see me, what do you mean about my--”

“It’s not what I can’t see, it’s what I CAN! Your marks are glowing!”

Lance gasped. He touched his cheek and noticed that there was a distinct brightness in his vision. Not only that, but the tug he felt before seemed even stronger, wanting to lead him out of the hall.

“I...I don’t understand.”

“Well the only thing you need to understand is Keith was probably right. You’ve got some kind of Altean alchemy flowing through you. Like the mark of the chosen. Maybe there’s something out there trying to tell you, er, something.”

Lance didn’t want to do ANYTHING. Well, that was wrong. He wanted to help people, and make sure everyone in the castle was okay. He DIDN’T want any magical Altean powers. Not only because, yeah, they were freaky and he didn’t understand them. But also because…

Because they meant Allura DID give him something…

“Lance!”

Lance looked up at Coran, who was just about three tics from having an aneurysm, a vein bulging on his temple. Lance felt guilty. Here he was worried about his own stupid problems when other people’s lives were on the line.

Keith was right.

But now he was going to do something about it.

Lance gave a determined look to Coran. “Okay, I know it’s gonna sound weird but, I’m feeling this weird pull in my belly here,” he pointed to his navel, ”and it’s like it wants me to follow it.”

Coran lifted his arms in the air. “Then what are we waiting for?! Lead the way!” Lance nodded and dashed out of the dining hall, Coran at his back. As they left the door, Coran quickly relayed to Romelle, “Keep everyone inside and don’t let any enemies in. We’ll be right back!” Romelle saluted as they dashed out into the castle.

 

\--

 

The bridge of the Atlas was in a panic. Alerts wailed and flashed as systems went offline. Crew members scrambled to try and gain control of any of their stations. Shiro entered every code he could remember to get his panel back to life. Nothing worked.

“Sam! Slav! What is going on?! What did they do?!”

Sam typed furiously. His eyes darted on his screen watching alerts pop up one after another. “I’m not sure! All of our systems have been compromised. We have no control over the Atlas!”

Slav ran six hands over his keyboard, two of them gripping at his temple. “That energy wave they sent out has cut off power to all of our systems. We have no transmissions coming in or going out. We’re locked out of emergency protocols...and now they’re shooting a TRACTOR BEAM RIGHT AT US!”

Shiro looked out the window and sure enough, a red beam enveloped the Atlas. As it hit, the crew felt the jerk of gravity slowly bringing them down, the beam leading them to the ground.

“ _Rrrgh_...Curtis, do you have ANY control?”

“Negative. Engine and thrusters are off and I’m locked out of the ignition protocol. We’re a rock in water.”

Shiro looked back out the window to the enemy cruiser. He thought they’d be ready. He thought they’d have an advantage. He thought the Atlas was strong enough to take on any foe.

He thought wrong.

 

\--

QUIZNAK Lance hated stairs.

They climbed floor after floor of the castle, power out everywhere including the elevators, which Lance would never take for granted again. They reached the seventh floor, the grand hall opening up to them. The lights and lamps all dark with the lack of power. The black floors that usually sparkled like the night sky now shone with the red light coming from the stained glass at the end of the hall. The one thing that still had energy was the Balmeran crystal, glowing blue at its perch, a beacon of comfort in the madness.

Lance and Coran huffed as they ran to it, the tug at Lance’s stomach painfully growing as they approached. Coran gave a little whoop of joy. “Of course! The Balmera crystal is a source of power all its own! Those _flaptrups_ can’t do anything to it!”

“Yeah, but anything hooked up to it doesn’t work, so no lights on in the castle.”

“Still, maybe there’s something we can do--hang on a tic. Did your sensation lead you here? To the crystal?”

Lance looked up at the blue rock. He’d seen it plenty of times before, touring with the young Altean kids and teaching them about it. But now it looked...alive. Like its glow and flashes were a message to be deciphered. “I...think so. I think...I think it’s talking to me…”

“Well, what’s it saying?!”

“I don’t know, okay! It’s not exactly speaking words here! Plus it’s been a weird day as it is. Talking rocks is just another thing to add to the list of crazy stuff that’s been pretty hard to process today!”

Coran gripped both of Lances shoulders. Seriousness shot out of his violet eyes. Very few times did Coran completely lose his jovial charm. “Lance. I don’t think we have time to be testy here. I know it might be strange, but if there’s something reaching out to you alone, you’re probably the only one who can do anything about it.”

... _O-kaaaaay_. Lance REALLY didn’t need that pressure right now. Like duh, he knew what Coran said was true, but that didn’t make the responsibility any less daunting.

Another blast from outside shook the room. Lance’s stomach lurched as he steadied himself from the shock, Coran keeping him upright. Coran released him and looked to the door. “Quiznak. Alright new plan; you figure out what to do with your stomach and the crystal, I need to make sure the Alteans - well, OUR Alteans - are okay.” He ran to the exit, Lance waving his arms in disbelief. “Wait! What am I supposed to do?!”

“Trust your gut! It’s what led you here! I believe in you Lance!” Coran called as he rushed out the hall and out of sight.

Lance turned back to the crystal. Its glow pulsated with power and insistence. Lance couldn’t explain it, but it wanted something. He frowned. “Oh, don’t look at me like that. As if you can actually look.” He paused. ”Great, now I’m talking to a giant rock!” He dragged his hands over his face, looking more disgruntled as he did so. “What do you want from me?” he asked it, beginning to pace back and forth. “Like, you realize I’m the worst person to ask for help. I’m the guy who can’t get anything right, you know! I’m, I’m the Lance who got captured more times than he can count. The Lance who had to play second fiddle to all of his friends and try the hardest to catch up to them and NEVER did. Oh, and the Lance who came to Altea to wallow in his issues on a farm of all places ‘cause…,” the heat in his voice died down as he stopped his pacing, reflecting on his thoughts, “...’cause…’cause he didn’t get a happy ending. The Lance who doesn’t deserve one because, he didn’t really win. The Lance who doesn’t want his friends to see how sorry his life really is…”

Lance’s thoughts were a hurricane in his head, and he stood in its eye. He’d never voiced his thoughts out loud before. Saying it really made him feel pitiful. He’d let his despair dictate his life, leaving his family on Earth, starting up a farm to isolate himself. Limiting his contact with friends to just the occasional call or visit. Well, Keith was the outlier, but that was his own fault since he seemed to show up of his own accord. Lance was sure Keith must be the most aware of how far Lance had sunk. That made him feel worse.

A flash of bright red brought his eyes up to the stained glass window. Sinking dread filling his throat, he hopped over to it and looked out one of the clearer windows.

He saw the battle on the ground. Red and grey sentries fought against colors of purple Galra, blue Alteans, and orange Garrison troops. But, it looked like the Alteans and Garrison were retreating. He looked to the sky, nervous to not find any Altean pods or the MFEs. He shifted his eyes further to the left, some relief hitting him as he saw the Atlas in its full form--

Ice froze his veins as he saw the Atlas sink from the sky. The enemy Alteans had a tractor beam trained on the behemoth, forcing it to the ground. Lance felt his heart twist, knowing his friends, his SISTER, were helpless inside.

Something inside him stirred. The pain in his stomach didn’t cease, but changed. The tug turned into a bubble of heat, expanding with his heartbeat that he could hear in his head. He looked up to the crystal, the glow pulsing at the same pace. _Are you ready_ , it seemed to ask. His face felt warm.

Lance steeled, walking over and stretching both palms to touch the crystal’s surface. He expected it to be cold as ice, but it hummed with a an inviting warmth.

“I don’t know what you’re getting at, but if you’re that sure, then let’s do it.” He shut his eyes in concentration, starting to feel his own warmth mix with the crystal’s.

 

\--

 

Hunk’s terror levels were at a high he hadn’t felt in years. He and the others on the ground pulled double time trying to take out sentries, resulting in him using his cannon like a club to at least knock some down even for a second. His periphery caught the Atlas going down. “Guys, I’m not liking our chances here.”

Keith didn’t like them either, his blades slashing the arms off a sentry, kicking it to the ground. He looked up as well, creasing his brow. “We need a miracle.”

 

\--

 

The force of the beam on the Atlas crew overheated all of their systems. They felt the hit to the ground rumble through the ship, making plenty of jaws chatter and clench with the impact. Shiro could only guess what was next, seeing a new beam start to charge on the Altean cruiser, one that looked much more menacing.

And deadly.

Shiro gulped, sweat trickling at his brow.

 

\--

 

Hira smiled. Again, another easy foe she forced into submission. It was becoming a routine for these more advanced planets they traversed. It was a nice sight to see; a gigantic warrior kneeling to the might of her Altean army. Another great victory to take before they continued their search. She turned to the scientist. “Set the particle cannon on full power. Let them know our Empire is not to be underestimated.”

“Yes Commander,” Renfrin answered. He turned to an Altean at the helm. “Begin charge of the particle cannon’s reserve generators.”

 

\--

 

The heat on Lance’s palms traveled up his arms to his chest. His stomach expanded throughout his body, making it feel tingly and numb. Energy whipped around him. Shocks of electricity sparked off the crystal. It didn’t speak words, but Lance could feel exactly what the crystal was trying to convey. His face pinched, overwhelmed by the forces weighing on his body.

“If...if they need power...then let’s...let’s give it to ‘em!”

Lance shut his eyes tight. He imagined the balloon at his core blowing up bigger. But he wasn’t going to let it just burst this time. He let it grow and grow, feeding it into the Balmera crystal. The energy thrummed through his being. It was getting too hard to hold it in. Sweat washed his face. His arms shook, but kept them on the crystal.

Finally, he felt it.

_Now._

He screamed. He forced out the power with everything he had. A flash of light blasted itself from him and the crystal, swelling and lighting up the room around him. Images raced through his mind. Red electricity. Dark swirls of smoke. A land covered in hues of pink and purple. An plane of darkness and stars.

The force of the flash shattered the window, the light traveling out into the night.

Lance felt the energy inside him fade, along with his consciousness. He collapsed in front of the crystal, the lights of the hall flickering on, illuminating his form.

 

\--

 

The lights sparked as they came on in the castle’s dining hall. Citizens cheered, now able to see their loved ones. Coran looked up to the ceiling, beaming.

“He did it,” he whispered, before raising it to a holler, “Lance did it!”

 

\--

 

Outside, the chaos came to a screeching halt. Everyone on the ground looked up to the bright light flashing out of the castle, causing a wave to brush throughout the pavilion.

Keith felt like he’d just been hugged, the light sweeping around him and his friends. In its wake, the lights of lamps and buildings flickered on. Keith looked to his allies. Alteans started to notice their weapons activating. Garrison troops were able to start their vehicles.

On the opposite side, enemy sentries fell like flies. Keith could see the red glow fade from their bodies. From some, he saw that same dark smokiness escape from their chests, before dissolving into the air.

His eyes flashed as a thought hit him. He looked up to the sky. The enemy cruiser’s beam had ceased, the charge of its attack dying. His vision shifted to the side. The Atlas glowed with the light, its power and movement returning after being freed.

Keith didn’t hide his excitement. “Do it Shiro!”

 

—

 

There was no time to celebrate. No time to wonder what just happened. The only thing Shiro had on his mind was _counter_.

“Curtis! Get us upright and aimed! Veronica I want a trained beam on that cruiser now!”

“Yessir!” They both shouted at once. Curtis raised the Atlas’s torso and right arm as Veronica punched in the code for the right particle beam. She watched as the levels gained back their power to full capacity. It felt painstakingly slow, but soon both systems had eyes on the enemy.

“Target locked!”

“Particle beam charged and loaded.”

“Fire!”

It fired.

A blast of white light shot out of the Atlas’s right forearm. The beam traveled like lightning up to the Altean cruiser, illuminating the way as it flew. While Curtis had it locked, the beam only struck the left wing of the ship, grazing its side. But Shiro didn’t care. Any hit at this point was a step in the right direction.

“How much time before we can charge another attack?”

Sam watched the levels on his screen rise and fall. “Our systems are coming back online, but it looks like our energy input is frantic. They need to sync with each other before we can get them to work properly. Three minutes maybe.”

“Do what you can and fast. Curtis, check our thrusters and start getting us back in the sky.”

“Copy.”

 

\--

 

Hira wanted to toss one of their privates out the airlock.

Veins bulged at her neck and temple as she attempted to understand what happened. They had the enemy down, ready to destroy them. A flash of light appeared out of nowhere and crashed into them. Their power and systems went haywire and lost both charges to their beams, crew members desperately trying to get them back online. On top of that, the robot in front of them gained power back, and just got a hit on Hira’s cruiser. No one had EVER laid a shot on HER cruiser before.

She gripped her dash, a dent started to form in the metal. “Get me weapons online immediately! I want full power NOW!”

Renfrin flinched at his Commander’s orders. “We-we can’t. Everything is frozen or shut off. All systems are going through full reboots.”

Renfrin could feel the slap to the face that came with Hira’s glare. “I don’t want excuses or explanations. I WANT a weapon CHARGED!”

A *blip* of an audio intercom on her console caused both of them to jump. The audio capture rose and fell with the waves of a deep, and rather soothing voice, coming through.

“Commander Hira. Order a retreat.”

Shock was just one of the many emotions Hira felt. “But...but sir we can still--“

“ _Retreat_ , Commander. We have seen enough. If there is no comet here presently, then there is no reason to stay, for now. Besides…”

Hira looked out over to the castle, where the white wave had emerged from. She could visualize the voice on the com doing the same thing.

“...they know what we’re looking for, and they’ll try to find it as well. And we know exactly how to find them again once they do.”

Hira frowned. She never retreated. Not personally anyway. Pulling out of their first fight with these naive Alteans was information gathering. This felt like cowardice. But would she argue with _him_ of all people?....No.

“...Renfrin, contact the other ships and prepare for the jump. Full retreat.”

“Yes Commander.”

 

\--

 

The Atlas rose higher into the sky, preparing for an aerial battle of epic proportions...as the enemy retreated into the red orb, battleships filing in like ducklings behind the mother-duck cruiser.

Shiro watched them fly away. Again, the enemy had the upper hand. Yet they were fleeing the battle once again. He didn’t want this to become a pattern. He wanted to end the fight. Stop any future attacks and take down these harbingers of destruction.

He looked to his crew. Every one of them had sweat on their brows, their faces frantic like deer in headlights. He looked out the the grounds of Altea. Enemy sentries were dark and ally troops moved more smoothly, however cautiously.

He’d like to fight, but first thing’s first.

Make sure everyone was okay.

“Atlas crew, prepare for landing and diagnostics. This fight’s over.”

Veronica raised a concerned eyebrow. “Are you sure Shiro?”

He nodded. “I think everyone’s done here. If their turning tails after...whatever that was, I think it’s spooked them enough that we have some breathing room. We’ll assess our damages and regroup as soon as we can for a game plan.”

The crew muttered agreements and acknowledgements, punching in codes to run scans of their systems after being forced off and powered on again. Looking out the window again, Shiro chanced a guess at what the white light could have been…

 

\--

 

Keith, Pidge, and Hunk all watched the battle in the sky pitter out. Ally Altean pods fired shots at particle barriers to try and cause SOME damage, but to no avail. Eventually, all of the enemy ships were gone, and a flash of white caused them to avert their eyes. After their eyes adjusted, they looked up again, seeing the stars shine bright in the crisp night air. As if nothing had even happened.

Pidge quickly recorded the spot in the sky where the enemy disappeared with her helmet camera.  Sure enough, she was already seeing discrepancies in the Altean constellations she’d studied earlier. These enemy Alteans had jumped to another reality, and left a scar in space to cover up their tracks. Pidge got the eerie thought that the red orb, their portal through realities, was a perfect representation of a bleeding gash in spacetime.

Looking around, the one thing their foes didn’t take with them were the sentries, still lying motionless on the ground. Whatever energy that brought their power back on, and had caused the enemy’s to short-circuit, was able to cut the signal to the robots, leaving them scattered dark on the ground. A few distant whoops and cheers indicated the end of a grueling fight.

Hunk sat hard on his bottom, breathing a deep sigh of relief. “MAN that was tough! Can we call that a win? I think we should call that a win. Since I’m not really sure if they won last time. And we actually DID do something, kinda, this time. Speaking of which, what WAS that light anyway?”

Pidge shrugged, her brain split already with other thoughts on her mind. Half beginning to organize what she needed to look into and decipher after their impending cleanup, and the other half reeling from the fact that YES, they were alive.

Keith looked up to the castle, at the spot where the wave of light came out. His eyes caught a blown out window, broken glass surrounding an opening leading into the castle. He could also see a faint blue glow coming from--

His eye widened.

Keith went from standing perfectly still to ten feet away from Hunk and Pidge in maybe two tics, sprinting as fast as his tired legs would allow. Confusion rocked Pidge on her heels. “Keith! What’s wrong?”

He didn’t answer back. Kosmo caught on to his master’s urgency and ran after him. Catching up, Keith silently put out his hand to his companion, and they disappeared in a flash of blue.

Hunk and Pidge blinked at one another. “I’m making cookies after we clean this up. Everyone deserves a cookie right about now.”

“Hunk, you’re the true hero of the night.”

 

\--

 

As Keith predicted, Kosmo teleported them into the grand hall of the castle. Blue hologram lights flickered in their lamps and reflected on the galaxy that was the floor. Down the hall, he saw the Balmera crystal glowing with energy. To its base, he saw the broken glass from the window strewn across the floor.

And a body laying on the ground, unmoving.

Keith’s vision swam as he ran over to the crystal, anxiety creeping up his neck. He felt like he was wading in water, but he finally got to the back of the crystal.

Lance lay on his side. A white glow surrounding him began to fade. The marks on his cheeks did the same. Keith hit his knees to the ground. He reached and picked up Lance, who was...warm? Despite being unconscious and a floppy bag of milk, Lance felt he’d just been kissed by the sun.

Still, it was the unconscious part that worried Keith. That and the fact that Lance’s breath hardly came out.

“Lance. Lance can you hear me?” Nothing.

Kosmo walked over to his master. He gingerly licked Lance’s cheek, before sitting and laying beside him, nudging closer so he could be a pillow.

Footsteps came from the back of the hall, but Keith didn’t bother looking up. The wails of an elderly and fluctuating voice told Keith exactly who was running towards them.

“By the fires of the ancients, Lance you did it! You-,” he stopped short, noticing Keith holding Lance on the ground. “Gracious! Is he alright?!”

“I don’t know. He’s barely breathing,” a moment passed before Keith realized, “Wait, what did he do?”

Coran bent over to give himself a look. He turned to Keith. “He was telling me he felt drawn to the crystal. I thought maybe there was something he could do to help, but I left to make sure the citizens in the castle were alright.” He stood quickly. “I’ll get a healing pod ready to go immediately. Careful with him and bring him up as soon as you can!” Coran ran like an olympic sprinter, arms turning to ninety-degree angles at his side.

Keith carefully lifted Lance up, Kosmo rising as well. He draped Lance comfortably over Kosmo’s back, holding him as they walked. While it would have been faster, he wasn’t going to chance any disorientation that teleportation caused. He patted Kosmo’s side. “Gently, please.” They walked out of the hall.

 

\--

 

“But seriously, what’s the coincidence of meeting someone from another reality, being someone you’ve met before, only to find out they’re from a completely different reality?” Hunk slapped both of his hands on Matt and Slav’s mouths; Matt’s for bringing up the question, and Slav’s for the explanation he most likely was going to give it.

Pidge watched the recorded conversation between them and Commander Hira play out for about the fifth time. Notes filled pages on her computer with theories and questions about their encounter. Sam stood over her, a similar intense stare eyeing the screen.

Two days after the attack, clean up was more intense than the last time, but they had more manpower to back it up. Garrison troops hauled off debris in their vehicles. Alteans directed civilians back to their homes. The troopers of the night were the Galra, offering to keep guard around the castle and residential areas all night, watching for any more attacks.

As soon as she was cleared for injuries, Pidge had run back to the computer room, immediately loading Hira’s transmission and getting to work, extracting all the information about their new/old enemy.

She tapped her chin. “So, they have trans-reality travel capabilities, are looking for trans-reality comets, meaning they most likely have more, and were able to pick up even minor traces of this universe’s comet from another universe away. On top of being traces that are three years old. That kind of technology...it’s powerful.”

Hunk removed his hands from his friends’ faces. “Yeah, which means they were looking for the Lions. Which haven’t been here for two years, and they could TRACK that. Anyone else getting a weird feeling of deja vu?”

“Yes, but it didn’t seem like they knew we HAD Lions, just that we had a comet. We may have given them the fact that we’ve been to another universe, but they don’t know how.”

Sam looked at Pidge’s information on her screen. “What I’m nervous about was that wave that knocked out our power. What was that?”

“I think I’ve got that one. My guess is they’ve done so much reality jumping, they know some realities may match up to theirs. All the tech they took out was Altean, or at least Altean fused. They must have a kill code to knock out anything similar. Must also be why our weapons could only do so much damage. Our paladin suits and weapons must have been fine, since they’re infused with the comet’s ore. If I would’ve known that foot I took was technically Altean, maybe i could have figured something out sooner...”

Matt patted her shoulder affectionately. “You did great Pidge, you figured out they were reality jumping, and that’s huge. Next, we just need to figure out why they’re collecting comets.”

Hunk wrung his hands nervously. “So, should we expect these guys back as soon like last time? ‘Cause any more attacks like this and i don’t think we’ll be able to take it, even with more allies.”

Pidge thought. “No, I think we might have more breathing room. They know our capabilities and it’s the second time they couldn’t find their target. Plus,” Pidge looked down, “I think they got spooked after that...blast.”

Everyone in the room fell silent, the *beeps* and *borps* from the computers rang louder. Slav obviously felt this was the best time to chime in. “At least we fell in the 16.6 percent chance of victory with no one losing a right arm, right?”

Pidge grunted as she rose. “I think I’m done for now. Thanks for letting me look at this before the military debriefing Dad.”

Sam ruffled her hair. “Not a problem sweetie. It probably counts for treason, but we Hohlts have never played by the rules have we?”

 

\--

 

Shiro and Veronica marched in tandem down the hall. Their military meeting was as eventful as they thought. Lots of panicking, a bit of the intel they collected, and then a dash more panicking, rounding off with a sub par strategy of boosting Altea’s defenses and asking for foreign aid. The MFEs gave their report of the attack, explaining how they were equally matched with the enemy ships. Sam relayed to them what he’d discussed with Pidge; he quickly had to assure the group they were working on firewalls so the enemy Alteans couldn’t hack them again.

Shiro did his best to calm fears, but his own still put worms in his stomach. These enemy Alteans surprised them again, and he was getting tired of surprises.

They turned a corner before a voice behind them cried out, “Captain Shiro!”

They both turned around. The hippo faced dignitary, Governor Kaba,  huffed as he caught up to them.

“Governor, what do we owe the pleasure?”

A few more huffs escaped his lips before he spoke. “Captain, I- I wanted to catch you after the meeting. I wanted to thank you for the help from the Garrison and Altea defenses. My entourage was well protected thanks to you.”

While he wasn’t exactly in the mood to talk, Shiro nodded formally. “Our pleasure sir. Our priority has always been the safety of innocents.”

Kaba wrung his hands, hesitant to speak his next sentence. “And, I wanted to thank...and I guess apologize, for my statements from the other day. If we didn’t have the Galra defending us after the Altean power went out, I’m sure we would have been overrun. I realize my words were childish and... mixed with some past resentment.”

Shiro and Veronica raised a brow at each other, before both looking past him and over his shoulder. “I appreciate your apologies sir, but it’s not me they should be directed at.”

Shiro jutted his chin forward and Kaba turned.

Keith stood directly behind him with two others flanking his side. Krolia wore her Marmoran robes and had a hand on her hip. To his left, a leaner woman with a periwinkle complexion and lavender bob cut stood at attention in standard Blade armor. Veronica gave a tiny wave to her girlfriend, Acxa.

Keith raised his head to attention. “Governor, this is Krolia, the Galra ambassador and co-command of the Blade of Marmora. And this is Acxa, my second and head of our artillery division. If you have any concerns or would like any assistance, they would be more than happy to help.”

Kaba was at a loss for words, seeing as Keith just acted like everything was normal. “Uhh, yes...of course, thank you. I’d be delighted to.”

Krolia led her hand to escort them down the hall, Keith waiting behind. A tiny cough made him perk.

“I uh, think I should go with them. To, you know, talk business, and stuff.”

Keith’s eyes went flat as Veronica inched away from Shiro, knowing exactly why she was following them (obviously not for military reasons). She stopped right next to Keith, leaning into his ear. “Thanks for keeping him safe. I know he can be a handful. Look after him for me will you?” She didn’t wait for a response as she ran off down the hall.

Keith blinked, turning toward Shiro who had his hands proudly on his hips.

“What?”

“Nothing. Just looks like you’ve changed at least one person’s opinion about the Galra.”

Keith’s expression softened. He realized it was going to be a slow process. He just hoped they wouldn’t have to have a catastrophic battle each time he needed to show the Galra’s good sides.

Shiro offered his arm, leading them both down the Hall, Veronica’s words ringing in Keith’s ears.

 

\--

 

_He swirls in darkness. Lights tickle his eyes open. Too bright. His eyes adjust. The images flash quick again. Too fast. Large figures clash in the sky. A red orb oozes and shifts. His muscles ache, feeling a weight in his hands. A clash that comes against it. Hard eyes pierce his mind. He’s afraid._

_“Not yet...not yet…”_

_The voice invites him away._

_He stands and looks out. A large valley glows before him. The land is a field of heliotrope. The sky shifts from blues to pinks to purples. The air is sweet. He could rest here. Here where nothing is happening._

_“You must go…”_

_The voice turns insistent. He trusts it. But he’s hesitant. Going means maybe not coming back._

_“Come...find me…”_

_He wants to. He doesn’t want to. Emotions pool within him. He takes a step back. A support steadies him. He hears a smile in the voice. “Don’t worry. You have greatness within.”_

_A light push forward, and he falls into light._

 

_\--_

 

Lance was cold. And warm. Wait that can’t be right. He cracked open his eyes slowly, feeling a cooling air dry them as he did. The other thing that didn’t seem to be right was he was upright, and not laying down, despite being asleep. He felt stretchy fabric grip his form versus fuzzy pajamas. All of this information led to a feeling he’d almost forgotten about; he was in a healing pod.

Lance looked up and squealed loudly. To the five faces glued to the glass of the pod, his yelp sounded muted, but they still watched as Lance twisted with embarrassment. He might have felt like a cell under a microscope, but there was a collected sigh of relief from everyone on the other side of the glass, happy to see their friend awake at last.

 

—

 

“...and that’s what happened.” Lance shrugged as he finished his story. He sat on a gurney in the pod bay, Coran gracious enough to give him sweatpants to put on over his pod suit. His friends stood around him in a semicircle,  munching on the peanut butter cookies Hunk had made. They all gave concerned and confused looks as they processed what he said about the invasion. About how Lance felt the Balmera crystal call out to him, and about how he was the one who caused the wave of light to turn on all of their tech again.

Shiro tapped his fingers with his arms crossed. “Well, that’s something.”

Coran raised a brow, biting into a cookie. “Something? Seems a lot more like a big thing. Shows here our Lance-boy can channel power like an Altean alchemist. Allura really must have passed on some of her power to him. And with power like that to turn on every bit of tech back on he could--”

“Coran.”

Coran stopped short as Keith interrupted him, the irritation on Keith’s face a little scary. Keith turned his attention to Lance, holding a cookie hopelessly in his lap. Keith had some experience learning new information about yourself that you never knew. He could tell Lance’s world was on kilter.

“He saved us and that’s what matters. Doesn’t change the fact that these guys were strong enough to bring down the Atlas. We need a strategy to stop them.”

“You’re right Keith,” Shiro agreed, “we do need to stop them. If they’re jumping realities then that’s cause enough to bring them down. The only thing is they have a great power that we can’t match, and they get stronger each time they collect those comets from other realities. The only upper hand we have is that the Lions haven’t been seen in two years, and we have no way to find them. Hopefully, they’ll stay lost. So at this point, we’re at a standstill.” Shiro creased his brow. “It’s just,” he turned toward Lance, “Lance, you DID do something to stop them. I would never force you to do it again, if you don’t want to. But, if there’s a way your powers can help-”

“I’ll do it.”

Five heads perked in surprise at Lance’s response. Shiro expected to see the glint of confidence back in his sharpshooter’s eye. Instead, there was a look of reluctant acceptance.

“Like i really have a choice here? I’m the guy with mystical magic powers now that pushed back the enemy. I’m the only one who can.”

Shiro flinched internally. “You always have a choice Lance. Just...we want it to be your choice.”

“And this is. I’ll do whatever it takes to help out.”

It didn’t sound very convincing, at least not to Shiro. Keith furrowed his brow as he shut his eyes. “Well that’s great and all, but it’s not going to help if you keep passing out in exhaustion each time you use any powers.”

Lance jutted his chin and pouted at him. Just because he was right didn’t mean he had to say it.

Pidge held her chin in thought. “Maybe we just need someone to train you. Another Altean who can help you learn about alchemy.”

“Problem there Number Five, there’s only a handful of Alteans here equipped with that knowledge, and none near as learned as King Alfor or Allura. If we’re fighting against other Alteans with capabilities far beyond our own, we would need someone with a vast amount of knowledge to help Lance get his energy wrapped up nicely.”

“Ok, is anyone else getting confused with the ‘these Alteans’ and ‘those Alteans?” Hunk raised a finger, interjecting, “it’s giving me the biggest headache trying to keep track. Like, can we call them something else? ‘Evil-teans’? ‘Al-bad guys’? ‘Malteans’? Actually that one sounds pretty good.”

Pidge shrugged in agreement. Her French wasn’t great, but she mentally applauded Hunk for the good pun.

Lance sat for a minute, gathering his thoughts. He breathed deep, preparing himself for most likely a long conversation, and an even longer process to come. “I think... I think I know how to get trained.”

Everyone had eyes on him. Waiting. He gathered his courage.

“I’ve been having some weird dreams and, I guess...visions lately. I can’t really remember or explain them. But I think one thing has stood out over all of it, and I think i need to follow it.”

He paused. The team waited, leaning in to hear exactly what Lance had to say.

He had to say it. He didn’t want to. But he had to.

Lance opened his mouth.

“I think...we need to go to Oriande.”

Silence…

...until Hunk, “Wait. THE Oriande? The Oriande that Honerva blew up and doesn’t exist anymore?”

Lance grunted. “I know it sounds crazy, I’m just saying what my head has been showing.”

Coran placed a hand to his chin. “Altea was recreated after Allura healed reality. Perhaps, it’s possible that Oriande could have been recreated as well. The myth WAS that the ancients themselves created it at the beginning of existence. Seems like the first thing on their lists would be to save their ancestral home.”

Shiro’s eyes never left Lance. “Are you sure? If it does exist again, you might be putting yourself at risk. We can find another way.”

Lance thought about it. But all paths led to the same decision. “No. I’m sure. My gut’s telling me it’s what I...we have to do. Like Keith said, if I’ve got some mystical cosmic powers that can help, I can’t go all sleeping beauty on you guys using them.”

Keith’s nerves were on edge. He’d seen Lance twice now knocked out using these new abilities. The toll it could be taking on Lance’s body irked him. Not only that, but the mental toll. The fact that Lance was using abilities that Allura had mastered. And now, she wasn’t here to help him through it. He could tell that for Lance, it was a heavy responsibility to bear.

And of course, Oriande COULD be dangerous. The planet was annihilated after Honerva destroyed its guardian, the White Lion. If it really did come back, there was no telling what dangers could lie ahead. And without an experienced Altean alchemist to get them in, it seemed like a long shot.

Shiro righted himself. “Well then, if that’s the plan, we’ll get things prepared to go check it out. I’ll relay on the to the Atlas that we’ll be leaving in a day. We don’t have too much time to waste. Don’t worry,” Shiro caught the apprehension on Lance’s face, “we won’t tell anyone who doesn’t need to know about your powers. We already had plenty of dignitaries asking. We told them it was a short circuit from the Balmera crystal.”

Lance breathed a sigh of relief. Before, he’d love hearing about how everyone wanted to thank him for being a hero. How he alone saved the day.

Things change, he guessed.

Pidge turned to leave. “I’ll let Dad know. We’ll start working on some things to help in case the Malteans come back again.”

“See? It catches on quick doesnt it?” Hunk turned to walk with her, giving Lance a quick smile before exiting.

Coran placed his hands behind his back. “Well, we’ll let you get changed and get a room prepared for you in the castle. I’ve already sent someone to go check on Kaltenecker and the farm. Nothing to worry about my boy.”

Lance smiled his thank you as the remaining three turned to leave the door. Before--

“Keith, can I talk to you for a sec?”

Three heads turned, and two quickly turned back and exited the room, leaving Keith and Lance alone in the pod bay.

Keith squared to look at Lance, but didn’t get any closer. “Yeah?”

“Just...I want to say sorry, for yelling at you the other day. Just had a lot on my mind and I took it out on you.”

“Lance you don’t need to--”

“I just, I just don’t want us arguing if we’re going into a fight like this. Or even another war,” he chuckled hollowly, “so, yeah, I’m sorry and know I was a jerk. You don’t have to worry about it.”

Keith stood in silence. Bad silence. He would’ve felt better if Lance had yelled at him. But Lance looked like he was giving up a fight he wasn’t even in. He looked pitiful.

 _Say something. Say something you stupid idiot, he NEEDS to hear something!_ Keith’s inner monologue was wise but his mouth was unhelpful, as he said nothing. He didn’t know what to say. He was staring at a hurting boy who just got a huge responsibility tossed on his shoulders and ALL Keith wanted to do was share the load.

But he didn’t know how.

It was agony, but Keith just nodded his head and turned to the door. He rested his hand on the entryway, turning, “...Get some sleep. You need it.”

Another chuckle, maybe a tiny bit of merit to it creeping back in. “Roger that, Team Leader,” Lance gave Keith a tiny two finger salute.

Keith left the room as the doors slid shut.

He stood right outside the door for maybe three minutes, thinking. If this was what Hunk meant by getting bad out of the way for the good, Keith didn’t want it. It hurt too much. Going back to weekly visits to the farm and putting on emotional bandages at least masked the feeling. Keith never dealt with heavy stuff like this. Someone else hurting. He couldn’t see where, and he was too nervous to ask.

The voice from the other side of the door, albeit muffled, shook him out of his stupor.

“--depending on you, Loverboy. No matter how much of a screw up you are, you can’t mess up this one. Not this time...not again.”

…

Keith’s eyes went wide.

_I think there needs to be a balance of both good and bad stuff._

_One of these days, you need to take it off and let the wound breathe._

_Look after him for me, will you?_

Keith felt upset. He was upset with himself. For so long he’d been trying to shield Lance from any negative feelings or insecurities, only for them to build little by little. But the worst of it. He really wasn’t trying to shield Lance.

He was trying to shield himself.

Keith wondered if being part Galra amplified his emotions or dulled them, his eyes getting damp as he walked down the hall.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't you just love that klangst?  
> SO! Yes, the Malteans (like the name? just a stroke of genius from yours truly. also i was getting confused myself) are from ANOTHER another dimension (I wrote this episode like right after spider-verse). What is their plan? How will the paladins move forward? More secrets to come to light next time on Season 9!


	5. Black and White

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge and Hunk are thespians. Keith and Lance find some cats. Kosmo is a good boy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait! Life happens and that takes a little precedent. But here we go! Strap in cuz we're going to space!

Hunk and Pidge waited outside the castle, the sun shining down warm and bright, a breeze blowing a gentle wind. Juniberry petals swayed in the distance.  The perfect Altean day. Which was kind of an insult, seeing as they had their bags packed ready to leave on a harrowing mission.

Shay stood in front of them, offering Hunk the last of his bags before they left for the station. “Are you positive this is the best course of action? It seems awfully dangerous.”

Hunk took his bag. “No. But it’s kinda the only one we’ve got. If figuring out some weird Altean magic-y stuff helps beat the Malteans, then it’s what we gotta do.

Pidge pouted. “I can’t believe that caught on.”

“Better it did than confusing them with our Alteans. I don’t think they’ll mind too much.”

Shay giggled, holding her hand to her mouth. The concern came back to her face just as quickly. “Please be wary. I will be hoping for your safe returns.”

“No problem Shay. We get out of every sticky situation we get in, one way or another. Take care of the kitchens for me. I trust Sal but, he doesn’t have your charm for sweets.” Hunk gave a tiny wiggle of his brow.

She smiled, turning to walk down the steps, leaving the two of them watching her back. Pidge raised an eyebrow at Hunk. “So, you ask her out yet?”

Hunk could have been the Red Lion with how much he was blushing. He waved his arms erratically, attempting to compose himself. “WHAT?! That’s-what-you-no-NO-she’s like-just COOL, and all its NOTHING like…” After Hunk noticed Pidge’s all-knowing smirk, he decided to give up. There was no point in arguing with someone who could put one and one together so easily. “I’m just taking it as it comes, ya know? No pressure, no formality. Just organic.”

Pidge nudged his side with her elbow. “Wish I knew another set of dorks who could learn to be a bit more ‘organic’.” Hunk shot her a similar raised brow. He’d known for some time about the epic romantic failures of their red and blue boys.

For years, Hunk wondered if instead of teasing Lance and leading him on about Allura, he should have tried inching those two closer together. Since Lance really only had eyes for Allura, as a best friend, Hunk had tried to hook him up with her. It was only after Keith came back from his Blade days that he started to notice, maybe, there was another side to the story Hunk had never considered. 

So, seeing Keith at Lance’s hip for the past few years, Hunk decided to watch and let things happen naturally. Give nudges here and there rather than pushing hard like he did before. The only problem was the AGONY of watching the two of them dance around one another like Coran’s yalmor intimidation tactics.

Hunk patted Pidge’s shoulder, turning with her to head towards the Atlas. “Oh, one of them knows. It’s the other oblivious one we’ve got to deal with.”

“Any way we can just stick them in the airlock and make them talk?”

“Pidge, you’re vicious.”

“I like getting results.”

 

\--

 

Lance hiked his bag over his shoulder. He didn’t have much in it: a toothbrush, some extra underwear, a pack of playing cards, assorted bottles of different facial cleansers...well in HIS opinion it wasn’t much.

He stood at the entry mirror, looking at himself, dressed in his blue Garrison uniform. It still fit pretty well, maybe a little big on him after a few years of decreased training and activity. The collar itched like he remembered.

He still couldn’t believe he was doing this. Day after day of farm work and chores and simple life stuff; now he was being thrown back into epic space battles and evil doers and…

He didn’t know how to feel.

Lance was so sure he wanted to settle down. To get away from the craziness of space. He didn’t want excitement or danger. Danger meant people could get hurt. People getting hurt meant feeling useless because they got hurt in the first place. And he couldn’t do anything to help. He didn’t want adventure…

...Right?

A tiny tug in the back of his mind pulled on some old feelings. There was something thrilling about being able to go back out into the excitement. The opportunity to be a hero again. The idea he could help in some way to--

His eyes shifted to the window sill by the sink, landing on the picture of himself and Allura. Lance walked over and picked it up, brushing it longingly with his thumb. He huffed out a sigh. No. He couldn’t be a hero like before. Heroes saved the day. Saved everyone.

He wasn’t a hero. He was just Lance. 

Tiny scratches tickled his forearm. The mice scampered up to his shoulder, affectionately tugging on his ears. Plachu rubbed his head against Lance’s cheek. Lance smiled sadly.

“I know guys. Let’s get going.”

Lance lifted up his bag, headed out the door, and locked the house. The sun shone through the trees and made the juniberry fields glow. He was a little upset that he had to leave it behind.  _ For now _ , he chided mentally. He’d be back soon, hopefully super-powered up where he could just sit and sip tea while zapping bad guys out of the sky with a finger. Yeah, good plan.

He trekked to the left side of the house. Kaltenecker stood, lazily chewing hay with her dreamy, I-can’t-be-bothered-with-anything stare. Lance’s eyes watered as he scanned his adorable heifer.

“Now Kaltenecker. I won’t be gone long. Coran has a couple of guys who are gonna come take care of you for a bit. They’re very nice and I told them to give you lots of hay and apples for treats, okay?”

Kaltenecker chewed. Then mooed.

The waterworks came full pump, and Lance nuzzled his cheek into her snout. “I’m gonna miss you so much!” He kissed her nose, wiped his eyes, and walked to his bike.

Swinging his leg up, he caught one last look at his farmhouse. The two story wood structure towered proud, a solid white sanctuary nestled between two alderbrook trees. The breeze blew leaves into the walkway. He was almost tempted to hop off the bike.

The skittering of nails on the bike’s hood signaled the mice were on, climbing up his arm and loading themselves into Lance’s pocket. No turning back now.

He revived the engine. “Alright, let’s go.” He dashed to the road, Kaltenecker watching him as he drove out of sight.  

 

\--

 

Shiro and Keith stood at the top of the hangar as they watched crew members enter the Atlas. New and familiar faces both saluted them as they boarded. One such group were the MFE pilots, laughing as they walked up the ramp. Cackling the loudest was Nadia Rizavi.

“And-and Ha ha HA! And I told him, that it wasn’t a cat on Iverson’s desk; someone actually sent him a toupee!”

Ryan Kincade simply smiled as James Griffin laughed his lungs out.

Ina Leifsdottir looked to their left. “Hello Captain Shirogane.”

Immediately, the other three pilots stood nervously at attention, realizing their conversation might not be so private anymore. Shiro just chuckled. 

“At ease pilots. No need to worry,” Shiro cupped his mouth and whispered, “it was a gift from Sam and myself after all. We thought he’d love it.”

Their composure broke as the pilots began busting their guts in laughter, Leifsdottir stifling a smile. Three of them entered the Atlas, Griffin standing behind, turning to Keith.

“Saw you beat my score on the simulator a few weeks ago. What did you do? Rig the machine?”

Keith raised a brow. “No,” a devious smile, “...just a low enough score to beat.”

Griffin confidently crossed his arms. “Well, next time I get back in there I’m trouncing you. Can’t have the good Garrison name sullied by a dropout.”

Keith puffed his chest slightly. “Shows how much school actually counts in real life.” They stared each other down for a beat, eyes burning. 

Before Shiro had to start thinking about coming between the two, both of them cracked, laughing at their bickering. Griffin offered his hand in a shake, which Keith gripped. Griffin released it and walked on to the Altas.

…

This was not a sight that Lance was accustomed to. 

As he walked up the ramp, he only half noticed Shiro’s face brightening and Keith turning to look at him, his narrowed eyes fixated on Griffin ahead. When he reached the two of them, Lance raised his brow to Keith. “Since when were you and Griffin so chummy?”

Keith blinked. “We’re not enemies.”

“Yeah but I mean, wasn't the guy a jerk to you or something?”

More confusion made its way to Keith’s face. “Lance that was years ago. Plus we’ve talked about it since then. We’re adults. He apologized sincerely and we moved on.”

Lance squinted his eyes even smaller, pouting. “So...you talk to him a lot?”

A loud and abrupt cough came out of Shiro’s mouth. To Llance, it either sounded like a large piece of food was stuck in his mouth, or he was just very unconvincing. 

“It’s almost time, and we should get on board.”

Keith shrugged and turned to the entrance, a brisk pace to his step. Lance watched him for a beat before following him. A hand to his shoulder stopped his momentum.

“Everything alright Lance?”

Shiro’s question surprised him. While Lance knew Shiro knew EVERYTHING, he didn’t think he was that transparent of a person to show every emotion on his face. Lance grinned, baring his teeth. “I’m great Shiro! Ready to go discover some neat alien powers and beat some bad guy butt!”

Lance marched into the Atlas. Shiro watched, concern painting his face. After years of taking care of teenagers, he could tell when one of them wasn’t telling him something.

 

\--

 

The engines roared to life as the Atlas lifted into the sky. Alteans and other citizens waved to the vessel as it rose. Romelle waved excitedly as the wind whipped at her pigtails. She’d promised Coran everything would be under control while they gone, and she’d do exactly what he would should any problems arise (a thought that Shiro found a little unsettling).

Galra troops stood in salute, staying behind to defend Altea.  While some Alteans were a little nervous about their temporary protectors, Shiro assured them they could transport back in a hurry via the Teleduv, should something happen. 

Krolia and Kolivan watched as well, both faces beaming with pride. Krolia didn’t worry for her son’s safety, knowing how well of a fighter and a pilot he was. She was more concerned about his emotional well being, but knew there was one person who would be able to help with that. 

Kosmo whined next to them as he walked back and forth, looking up, wanting his master. Krolia patted his side. “Go if you’re so worried.”

A sudden flash of light, and the wolf was gone.

 

\--

 

Keith was not expecting a three-hundred pound wolf on top of him in the dining hall, but that’s what he got.

“Are you kidding me?!”

Kosmo licked his master’s face, Hunk trying to tear the pup off of Keith.

“Easy boy! Aw jeez, where are we supposed to keep you? You’re getting too big bud.”

Kosmo grunted, insulted.

Keith rose from the ground, wiping the drool off his face. A few crew members laughed quietly. He eyed his companion. “Go wait in my room. We’ll figure out where to put you later.” Another quick lick, and Kosmo disappeared. 

Hunk offered Keith a little towel. “Be honest, you’re just gonna let him curl up on your bed with you rather than stick him in the cargo bay, aren’t you?”

Keith’s brow flattened with annoyance, as Hunk was probably right. 

A *beep* brought their attention to the ceiling as an intercom turned on, Shiro's voice ringing through the ship, “Atlas crew, prepare for Teleduv transport.”

Keith and Hunk looked at each other, cleaning up their mess to head up to the bridge.

 

\--

 

Pidge might have been tapping away on her tablet, but all of her attention was focused on Lance.

Standing on the bridge, Lance’s hands were in his pockets. His head was slumped and hair looked more ashy than its usual chocolate tones. He looked tired, despite getting two full days of rest in a healing pod. Pidge noticed over the years that Lance’s resting face, normally a crooked smile showing something devious was always on his mind, shifted into a forlorn pout. Despite his extensive skin routine, his cracked lips were a big indicator of his nervous chewing.

Pidge was good at math. In fact people could say she was an expert. And for years she tried to solve the problem that was Lance’s life. But every time she tried, she always seemed a digit off.

Pidge tried for another computation. “So, any ideas of what you might do with your powers?”

Lance turned to her, baffled. She couldn’t see it, but she felt Shiro's gaze on her back from his dash, waiting for where she was going with this.

“Uh, no,” he answered cautiously, “I have no idea what these powers are gonna do in the first place.”

“Yeah, I know. I just mean like, hypothetically what would you do? Try to fly? Move water? Make lightning shoot out of your fingertips?”

Lance paused for a long time, before, “I think we both know I’m not turning into a psychic, Pidge.” He turned back to look out the window, watching the ship start to pass through the Teleduv. Pidge internally cursed. Idle chat wasn’t her strongest skill, but she knew Lance had the biggest imagination of all of them. She’d hoped to at least get him excited or in a positive state before possibly risking their necks.

“...but the lightning does sound kinda cool.”

Pidge perked, then smiled. She felt her neck get a little warmer too, feeling Shiro's encouraging smile on her back.

A *whip* of the doors cleared to show Keith and Hunk entering the bridge. Lance didn’t hide the look of disgust on his face, seeing Keith’s oddly damp hair sticking up in multiple directions. “Did you lose a fight with a hose?”

Keith frowned at him. Hunk provided the answer, “Kosmo came on board.”

“Oh.” Like that answered everything.

They turned back to the front as the Atlas passed through the portal. Blue and violet beams glowed inside the bridge as cosmic lights danced and swirled around them. 

“Happy we kept those coordinates. It probably would have been impossible to find Oriande again if we didn’t,” Coran said as he steered them through the tunnel.

Pidge looked skeptically up at Shiro. “There’s still the chance it doesn’t exist anymore. What are we going to do if nothing's there?”

“We’ll deal with that when we come to it Pidge. Right now let’s stay focused on the mission at hand.” Shiro wanted the conversation to end quickly as his eyes drifted over to Lance, his shoulders slowly hunching. Shiro trusted his team without question, and if Lance said he’d seen something, then Shiro was behind him. However, he knew that hundreds of crew members on the ship may not be in best spirits should they find their destination didn't exist.

Still, Shiro pushed the doubt out of his mind. He could relate to Lance, having visions and memories come to him that were too real to be fake. To disbelieve Lance would be an insult to his teammate. He watched Lance, wishing he could mentally tell him everyone had his back. 

Lance on the other hand, had a three ring circus performing in his belly, and he was on the tightrope. If he was wrong, then he made people waste precious time and resources on something he saw in a dream. That thought didn’t exactly help the confidence level. But, he couldn’t help but feel a little tug at his navel. Like, if he concentrated, he knew exactly where to go. He also drifted back to the dream, the voice reaching out to come look for that spot. Deep in his heart, Lance knew that was a genuine request, and he couldn’t escape the feeling he needed to follow it.

They reached the other side of the wormhole, and everyone’s jaw dropped.

“Lance,” Pidge squeaked, “I owe you three-thousand GAC.”

“Start a tab, you might need it.”

The white hole glowed with a heavenly light. Waves of it whipped off its spiral into the debris that surrounded it. The light reached high into space, stretching into infinity. The ship slowed to a halt as the crew took in the sight.

Shiro readied himself, “Alright. We’re here. From what I recall, it’s not a smooth trip to get in, and there’s some defenses that we may need to get by in order to enter.”

Hunk looked on the white hole with concern. “Yeah, I mean, didn’t that guardian lion get destroyed? Does that mean there’s a new guardian? Or something worse? Or maybe hopefully NO guardian and we can just walk right in?”

Lance studied the portal. “I think...I think we’ll be okay if we go through.”

All eyes were on him. After three tics, it started to get awkward. “Why are you guys staring at me like that?!”

Pidge pointed to his face, then held out her tablet to reflect it. Lance’s Altean marks glowed white, illuminating his face. She lowered it. “Well at least we know we’re on the right track.” Lance pouted at her.

“You sure we’ll be okay?” Shiro trusted Lance, but the edge of concern was still in his voice.

Lance nodded. “I can’t explain it, but the energy around it almost feels…inviting. Like it’s not gonna hurt anyone who wants to come in.”

Anxious faces made their rounds around the bridge. Lance noticed, feeling his blood begin to simmer. “Fine. If you’re all so worried I’ll go by myself. Pretty sure I need to anyway.” He turned, but a sturdy hand gripped his arm. He looked up to see Keith looking at him, right in his eyes.

“Lance, we trust you. We’re just making sure we don’t rush into anything.”

Lance calmed, knowing Keith was right. Seriously it was like ping-pong with them for who was the hotheaded, impulsive one. 

Shiro gripped his dashboard. “I’m just nervous about going in, and getting stuck with no backup.”

“We can escort him in with a pod,” Keith supplied, “if there’s any trouble, we can signal you back.”

Shiro didn’t like it. Yet AGAIN his team had to go into the action without him. He knew they were capable. He had the utmost confidence in them. But he was still their honorary caretaker and of course, he was worried. And maybe, while it was no one's fault...he was a little hurt being left behind.

“Fine,” he settled. “Be sharp and don’t take longer than you need to. Watch each other’s backs.”

“Will do.” 

Lance, Hunk, and Pidge filed out of the bridge (“Shotgun!” “Aw come on Pidge you always get it!”), Keith following behind. Before he exited, he looked back to the controls of the bridge. Veronica looked at him with worry. She was on the edge of her seat, like she was about to stand and follow them. Keith answered her with his eyes, conveying full confidence that he WOULD bring her brother back safe. He smiled at her, before turning to follow his team.

 

\--

 

He wasn’t going to admit it out loud (frankly, he didn’t want to admit it inside of his head either), but Lance’s armor felt like a security blanket he found after years of it being lost, wrapping around his body protectively.

He sat in the back of the pod, Hunk sitting across from him...and a very big Kosmo laying down in the aisle, forcing both of them to raise their feet on their seats.

“Can someone tell me exactly why we had to bring the wolf?!”

Pidge snickered from her spot in the passenger's seat. Keith turned the com on. “He would have been stir crazy. At least this way he gets out of the crew’s hair and can stretch his legs. Plus, he can help if we get in trouble.”

“I meant GENERALLY. The guy’s getting too big for space travel!”

Kosmo whined at Lance, causing his heart to actually contract. Hunk leaned over to rub Kosmo’s neck. “Don’t you worry boy, mean old uncle Lance has always been a cow person anyway. You’re a perfect boy no matter how big you get.”

Lance sighed as he pet Kosmo too, the wolf leaning in to the scratch. There was no bite to his words, and he could never fault their big cosmic puppy for anything.

The com buzzed again, Pidge's voice coming through. “Approaching the white hole in two dobashes.”

Keith held the controls steady as they got nearer to the white hole. His grip was a bit tighter than normal.

A transmission came through his screen, Shiro’s voice echoing in the cockpit, “Keep en route, and if we lose connection, we’ll give you four hours. Good luck.”

“Copy.”

They passed through the light of the white hole.

The turbulence of the hole jarred them all, shaking everyone like electric massage chairs. Kosmo attempted to stand out of stress, Hunk trying to keep him down to not shake the pod further. Keith’s grip on the controls ripped his biceps, doing his best to keep them straight. The light around them bounced off the pod physically, thrashing them about.

“Lance said this place was INVITING?!” Pidge shouted incredulously. Keith almost agreed with her, but he trusted Lance a tiny bit more than she did, knowing there was something bigger going on than he was letting on.

The reached the end of the white tunnel, the bumps getting larger and more painful as they went. Pidge noticed the distinct lack of a white lion guardian at the front of it. “We’re almost there!”

Everyone braced themselves. Keith floored the thrusters and they shot through the light at the end of the tunnel.

...

Keith chanced opening his eyes a crack. Taking a glimpse, they shot wide open. 

Oriande’s glowing white cliffs floated around them. Carvings etched with Altean marks glowed on their surfaces. The atmosphere painted them in hues of pink and purple. The sky overhead danced with pastels. Violet mountains rose in the distance as they flew. Below, the main island floated freely. A forest expanded for miles on its surface, circling a small lake of the clearest blue. To the center of it, Keith could see the main temple, a fortress that had lasted for tens of thousands of years.

It was like the the perfect Altea.

Keith brought the pod down gently. They landed on a small cliff that overlooked the valley leading up to the temple. The first one out of the pod was Kosmo, rushing past Lance and Hunk to run around and stretch his legs, antsy after their bumpy ride. 

Pidge placed her hands on her hips. “Well, we’re here. Now what?”

Lance felt the tug at his stomach, pulling him towards the temple. Great. Of course that’s where he had to go. He steeled himself. “Think this is the part where I do that magical, soul-searching to find out what’s going on with me.” 

He started to trek down into the valley. Footsteps behind him, however, caused him to turn around. Keith stopped abruptly, looking confused as to why Lance halted. 

“Oh no, you’re not doing this here.”

Keith looked genuinely confused, a face Lance could almost say looked innocently sweet, if not for the fact he knew Keith could go full on rage mode in a split second if given the chance. 

“This is something I have to do on my own. You’re not helping me.”

Keith creased his brow. “I won’t. I’m coming for backup.”

Lance brought his hands to his head, rubbing his helmet in frustration. “That’s just it! I’m supposed to do this alone. Solo. No backup. This is my mystical journey and you’re not coming.”

“Who says you have to do it alone?”

Lance pointed to his navel. The three others frowned in confusion. “The belly has been pretty spot on since Altea. I think it knows what it’s doing.”

“But what if you get into trouble? We came down as a team for a reason.”

Lance crossed his arms. “Yeah? Then shouldn’t a team trust one another? Trust that I’ll be okay? I can take care of myself.”

Keith pursed his lips and looked down. He DID trust Lance. More than Lance probably knew. There was just the side of him that wanted to make sure Lance stayed safe. He promised himself. He promised Veronica. He didn’t want to break any promises.

Keith scanned Lance. He looked smaller in his armor, a few years of missed training showing in his physique. His stance was still strong, and he had that posture with his hip cockily stuck out. While there were more issues under the hood, Keith could see Lance was at least trying to be confident, which must have been a difficult feeling to muster after the few days they’ve had.

“I...I know you can, Lance.” Keith hung his head, defeated.

Lance sighed. “I’ll be fine, Keith. Like you said. I was a kid at the carnival a few days ago. Just imagine this like a hike at summer camp. No sweat.”

They smiled at one another. Lance caught a look over Keith’s shoulder to see Pidge and Hunk...stifling themselves? Whatever it was, Hunk had his hand over Pidge’s mouth, while Pidge had one of hers over Hunk’s, the other squeezing his arm tightly. He didn’t question it, and turned to continue down the path into the valley.

Keith watched him walk, legs tense with anticipation, desperate to run after him. Kosmo reached his side and rubbed against him. Behind him, he heard the gasps of air coming from Hunk and Pidge.

“That,” Pidge breathed, “was painful.”

“Yeah,” Hunk sighed, “but now what are we going to do to wait?”

They stood in silence for five tics…

“Anyone wanna play I-spy?”

 

\--

 

After his grip slipped for the seventh time, Lance was starting to regret not at least taking Kosmo with him, a thought he had while hanging off the middle of a. eighty-foot cliff.

The wind whipped at him as he hung on tight. He thanked his lucky stars that years of dexterous farmwork prepared him for a feat like this. He’d like to take a look at the view behind him; lush trees, the clear lake, a sky painted like a berry smoothie. His arms and legs however, screamed at him to face forward and continue climbing as to NOT fall to his death.

Finally, his hand reached a flat surface, and he pulled with all his strength, propping himself up on the ledge, laying out flat, chest rising and falling with relief as he reached the top. He opened his eyes, staring at the sky a moment, taking everything in.

“How did I get here? Three days ago I was making cheese. Now I’m a hundred feet up the cliff of another planet-world-place.”

He sat up, looking out to his destination. The Temple of Oriande was a stronghold shining bright in the...well, there wasn’t actually a SUN, but it shone in the light of the white hole emanating from the outside. 

Lance stood up, and a wave of familiarity washed over him.

He was in the exact spot of his dream the day before. 

His legs threatened to buckle. He was scared. What did going forward mean? What exactly was he supposed to find? Nothing this fantastical ever happened to him. Ok, well, excluding the giant robots and flying through space and battling aliens and seeing realities fall apart and right themselves, nothing happened to him PERSONALLY and ONLY. 

His mind flashed back to his dream. The steady hand on his back. The soft voice. The overwhelming feeling of confidence.

...Ok.

He’d try. That’s all he could do.

Lance made his way down the path and towards the temple.

 

\--

 

Pidge and Hunk sat criss-crossed from each other, Pidge demolishing Hunk in the third thumb war they’d played. After trying to reach the Atlas to no avail, and Pidge collecting soil samples to do research on an ancient land, there wasn’t much else to do except sit and wait. They’d ended their game of I-spy after they exhausted all of their sight options (“Tree?” “Yup.” “Rock?” “Yup.” “Keith?” “Yup.”), and shifted to hand games. 

Hunk looked over to Keith, who was standing in the same exact spot he was in an hour ago after Lance left. His arms were crossed and his toe tapped softly on the ground. Kosmo napped next to him. 

Hunk pouted, a tiny idea forming in his head. He narrowed his eyes. “Wonder what Lance is doing right now?”

Silence. Pidge raised an eyebrow. Hunk winked at her.

“I mean, he’s on some crazy life journey discovering mystic powers and stuff. Wonder if he’s okay.”

Pidge sat still, thoroughly confused. Hunk looked over to Keith...who hadn’t moved.

Hunk decided he needed a new angle. “Like I mean, it’s Lance right? I can imagine him finding some alien animal and being chased around for miles, or getting stuck in quicksand, getting stuck in a tree. But he’d be all like,” Hunk perked his voice up, adding a sassy attitude as he mimicked Lance, “‘Oh, I’m fine! I planned to do all that. I’m the Razzle Dazzle master!’ But in the end he’d be squawking like he normally does and need some help anyway.” Hunk swore he saw a twitch of Keith’s arm.

Pidge wasn’t exactly sure where Hunk was going with this, but her gut intuition and mathematical skills let her put one and one together. “Yeah. And then I can see us having to get him out of it. Like if Keith saved him, he’d be all like,” and Pidge proceeded to deepen her voice, adding gravel and a slight crack here and there, imitating Keith, “‘Lance, I’m here to save you. With my sword. And wolf. But I won’t say anything more because I like to hide my feelings.” She took off her helmet and whipped her hair dramatically, making it fall over her face.

Hunk snickered. “Yeah, and Lance would be all ‘Wow Keith! Thanks so much! Ever since you got super buff and strong you’ve always been able to do cool stuff. Like flying and fighting and jumping off things.’ Then Lance would fall out of the tree and Keith would catch him.”

Pidge caught Keith turning his head to watch them. She gave Hunk a sly smile. “And then Keith would be all, ‘it’s ok Lance. I’ve got you. Cradled in my arms.’”

“‘Oh Keith, I didn’t know you were this strong. And so sensitive too. I guess I pegged you wrong for years huh?’” Hunk had proceeded to lay in Pidge’s lap where she lightly held him. They both looked over to Keith.

. . .

Keith’s face was blank as he stared at the two of them. His gaze rested on them a beat, before turning around to look out over the valley again. Hunk and Pidge both frowned, their award winning performances gone to waste. Hunk looked up at Pidge and whispered, “Seriously, he is a statue.”

Pidge peered down. “How can a person be so loud without making a sound anyway?”

Kosmo yawned from his resting spot.

 

\--

 

Last time he was here, he was with his entire team, facing down an evil and vengeful witch and a giant, terrifying robot.

Now, Lance was all alone.

He stared up at the temple. White marble (Lance guessed it was marble; he wasn’t too familiar with Altean minerals) sparkled in the light of the sky. Blue accent lights wrapped around its pyramid shape. At the center of the structure was a carving of what looked eerily like an eye, staring down at him. He gulped.

Taking a deep breath, Lance walked the entry path, his steps echoing as he made it to the entrance. The door was probably fifty feet high, maybe more, opening into a long tunnel of a dark hallway. Lance slowed his pace, apprehension gripping his neck. To his left and right, carvings and depictions of Altean lore and stories crawled up the walls. Lance had no idea what any of it meant, but he saw little people in lines, leading up to a mountain-like object with a halo. Further down the hall, larger figures came into view. The light from outside the door was just enough so he could see--

The loud groan and rumble of stone made Lance whip his head back. The doors to the outside shut behind him, leaving Lance trapped inside.

Lance was...only a LITTLE freaked out.

“Ooohh...okay spooky temple... Starting to confirm my theory that all Altean castles are haunted. Very funny…” While Lance’s attempt to sound jovial was to be commended, the terror and squeak in his voice spoke otherwise. He tried for a bit of bravery, “Look, whoever is in here, YOU’RE the one who brought me here so...like some  _ hor d'oeuvres _ or a home tour is a better first impression,” and failed, his voice cracking at too many places to count. 

Shaky steps echoed in the hall as Lance continued. He reached the figures; tall statues of Alteans clad in ancient armour and robes loomed above him. Each one held either a large stone halberd or axe in their hands, gripping them at attention. Lance felt like their eyes were watching him as he walked. He sheepishly looked up at one.

“Oh, hello creepy statues. Guess, you’re gonna stand there. While I just walk. To the end of the hall. Yup. just walking. In the dark. With no idea what to do.”

Sometimes Lance should just keep his thoughts in his head.

The statues’ eyes glinted. They began to slowly move their arms and legs, brandishing their weapons. Their eyes CLEARLY on Lance.

“Now they’re moving! NOW THEY’RE MOVING!”

Lance wailed erratically as he sprinted around the approaching sculptures. One brought brought down it’s halberd in an attempt to crush him. Lance sidestepped and tripped, using his jetpack to right himself best he could, then jumped back into his run to the end of the hall. Another statue swung its axe, missing Lance by hairs as he slid under the blade, tomb raider style. He bounced back up, the statues continuing to follow him. 

Looking around, he caught the sight of an extinguished chandelier above the hall. Lance summoned his bayard, didn’t even worry about aiming, and fired four shots above them. The light fixture cracked and fell, causing dust and rock to fly as it made a crater in the floor. Creating a temporary obstacle for the statues, Lance sprinted down to the opposite end of the hall, the doorway shutting behind him as he jumped into the other room. 

Lance took deep breaths, turning to look back at the shut door. “I...I sure showed you, you big blockhe-WAAH!”

A loud *CRUNCH* and the fact a blade was now sunk in the doorway told Lance one of the statues must have thrown their axe.

Taking a quick breath to compose himself. Lance looked around the circular room he entered. Dark again, there was nothing inside, and no more doors to go through. He was trapped again.

“ _ Oh-kay _ ….Now what?”

 

\--

 

“Okay, but a bouquet of flowers, or a geode collection?”

“Personally I’d think the flowers, since she’s been around rocks most of her life.”

“Hmm, good point. Keith what do you think?”

Keith was so focused on his one spot on the horizon, he only half heard Hunk say his name. He took a full three seconds before it registered in his brain that Hunk was talking to him directly. “Uh, yeah? What?”

“Pidge and I were just talking about if I were to get Shay a little ‘thanks for holding down the fort’ present. I was thinking some pretty geodes, ‘cause I know she likes rocks. But Pidge brings up the good point to get her something pretty that she’s not used to. What do you think?”

The question baffled Keith. He was legitimately confused as to why Hunk would ask his opinion of something like that. So much so, it must have been all over his face, Hunk frowning at Keith’s silent response. “Well it’s not like they’re BAD ideas…”

“No-no I mean. Just...you probably don’t have to get her anything. You just coming back and being with her should be fine enough.”

Hunk and Pidge were silent for a beat, looking at each other, impressed. Pidge tilted her glasses. “Very insightful. A nice idea...so...you ever follow your own advice?”

After two and a half hours of hearing their weird banter,  _ that  _ statement was the one that made Keith’s head turn. “What?”

Pidge stretched her arms, cracking her knuckles. Hunk watched her with childlike wonder. “I mean, you’re saying intimacy and shared time is the best option, right? So how come I hear talk you’ve been quite the spender, buying Lance, let’s see...a hover bike, gardening tools, paid for the supplies to make a corral for Kaltenecker, a bed for the mice…” Pidge ticked away at each item on the list with her fingers. Hunk’s eyes darted between her and Keith.

Keith was fairly good at keeping his more private emotions in check when he concentrated. His temper was another story, but anything else was always under lock and key (unfortunately Shiro seemed to have a spare he used whenever he felt like it). 

But, Pidge had duped him. He felt his chest pick up in pace. Kosmo actually looked up at him with concern. 

Pidge leaned back on her hands. “Just sayin’, if you haven't already, maybe you should listen to yourself. Vicinity. In-ti-ma-cy,” she popped each syllable with a grin. ”I’m sure Lance wouldn’t mind just time together and talk with each other, versus some paid expenses. That is, if you wanted to give him a ‘thanks for holding down the fort’ present when you visit Altea...how many times again?”

Keith turned back around, breathing deep as to cool down his face. The thing was, he DID do that. Both. Most of what he did for Lance was simply being there...granted it was usually to be expendable and helpful in some way. But he was THERE. And...also...bought a bunch of stuff...when he didn’t need to. 

Hunk’s chortle jarred him out of his train of thought. “Yup, pretty solid advice. Think I’ll try it with Shay. Just us. Together. Maybe we’ll watch a sunset. I mean I guess personally I’d rather be with her too than just get her something and watch her leave--”

Keith huffed and trampled off down the path. Kosmo perked his ears and rose, chasing after him. Pidge stood as Hunk turned, watching Keith walk off. “Keith,” Pidge called, “where are you going? Lance said he didn’t want help!”

“I’m not. I’m just going to make sure he’s doing SOMETHING.”

With a pat to Kosmo’s head, they both disappeared in a flash of light.

Pidge and Hunk looked at each other incredulously. Despite being the smartest two of the team, their minds were empty.

“...Did he actually buy the mice a bed?”

 

\--

 

Lance glanced around his enclosure. He squinted, trying to get a good look at what all was in the room, but it was just dark enough that he could only really see forms and shapes. He raised his hand, turning on the flashlight in his gauntlet. The room was made entirely of stone with no windows or doors, save for the one behind him. More carvings decorated the walls. To the opposite end, a small dais sat raised above the floor. 

Lance felt like this would have been a great time to have Pidge around. At least she would have an idea how to get through this puzzle. 

“Alrighty then. Dark room. No way out. Creepy statues that want to kill me waiting outside the door. S’all good. Totally not a problem for Lancey Lance. You can figure this out. You’ve gotten out of tougher jams before. Well, Pidge has gotten you out of tough jams. But you were still there and thus learned how to get out of tough jams by default!” He smiled proudly, in awe of his own intelligence…and then deflated, ”...and now you’re talking to yourself. Out loud. Real hero like...wonder if Keith does that? I know Hunk does but that’s just Hunk and...STOP TALKING TO YOURSELF!”

Lance took a few steps towards the dais, mumbling under his breath to stop trying to console himself. As he reached it, he noticed two short poles sticking up from the ground. Lance cocked a brow.

“This looks kinda like--“

A rumble from above called his attention. Dust began to fall as the entire ceiling slowly sank, threatening to crush Lance underneath.

“Okay! New plan! Gotta think fast! HOW DO I GET OUT OF HERE?!”

Lances mind scrambled as he tried to think of a plan. The noise from the ceiling made it hard to concentrate on anything but being flattened into a tortilla. He looked back to the poles. Their shape and uniformity were familiar enough to give him an idea.

“Okay, let’s give it a try!”

He smacked his hands down on the top of the poles and concentrated…

...The ceiling continued to lower.

He smacked them again…

...And again.

And again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again

“I really don’t wanna die here and I kind of have a job I gotta do so come on and WORK!”

Lance slammed his fists against the poles. Light flashed around the dais, nearly blinding him. The sound of the ceiling died as the light filled the room. Lance tried to back away, but it was like his hands were glued to the tops of the poles. He cried out, the light enveloping him as he lost consciousness.

 

\--

 

Keith’s feet landed on the ground right in front of the temple. Kosmo shook out his fur after the teleport, stretching his hind legs. Keith patted his head as he looked up at the pyramid. While he knew it was a sacred place to the Alteans, Keith still felt an ominous discomfort in the monolith’s presence. Like he really shouldn’t be there.

Ignoring the feeling, Keith proceeded, Kosmo at his back, to the doorway of the temple, wide open and dark as it expanded into the long hallway. Keith took each step with caution, silently hoping he’d just find Lance close to the entrance, stuck on a puzzle or something.

…

Keith removed the thought from his mind as he realized how similar that scenario sounded like Pidge and Hunk’s skit.

He continued further into the hall, his back feeling slightly colder than it did a minute ago. He turned to check on Kosmo--

Kosmo frantically paced at the entrance to the temple, jumping and scratching at an invisible wall, trying to reach his master. Keith tensed and ran back to the front, placing his hands on a force field. Keith pounded the wall, the surface rippling with each hit.

“No. No!”

Kosmo barked and growled, but whatever surface was between them, Keith couldn’t hear the noise. Kosmo stopped and tensed, flashed, and appeared again exactly where he stood before. Whatever power kept them separated, it also didn’t allow his wolf to teleport to Keith’s side. He summoned his bayard and slashed with his sword, attempting to break through. The blade simply bounced off the barrier. 

Adding insult to injury, the large stone doors began to close.

Kosmo’s barks quickened, jumping up to scratch at the force field. Keith tried stabbing and striking, but nothing worked to cut open the barrier. He watched his companion shrink to a sliver of light as the door shut, Keith cut off from the outside world.

His breaths were loud and labored inside his helmet. He took a few deep ones to calm himself, turning to look at the dark hallway ahead of him. Composing himself, Keith took a step--

And his foot sank into the floor like a mud hole. Keith panicked as he tried to lift it, only to feel his other foot start to sink as well. He tried climbing out of whatever was pulling him in, but each struggle only brought him further to the ground. 

“He...help!” Keith cried out before his vision was consumed by darkness.

 

\--

 

Lance gasped. Deep breaths filled his lungs with oxygen. His helmet was gone. His eyes adjusted to the brightness surrounding him as he awoke, gaining his bearings.

He stood on a large expanse of a reflective floor. A bright blue sky stretched above him, clouds painting it with wispy strokes of white. He looked to his side. The horizon met the sky like a mirror, washing the area, and himself, in a light blue hue. 

Lance looked forward and nearly gave himself a heart attack.

A lion, slender, elegant, and white, stood about ten meters away, flicking its tail. Lance had a flashback to visiting Oriande before, and meeting the guardian lion. But, this one looked different. It was more petite. It had no mane, and stripes of pink marked its muzzle. It’s eyes were calmer, like two sparkling opals. While it was far away, Lance could hear the grumbles of deep purring coming from the beast. It paced back and forth slowly, eyeing him with interest.

Lance gulped. “H-hey there, kitty cat. Nice lion. Good lion. I bet there’s an antelope just waiting to be chased right about now…”

The lion stopped directly in front of him. Its back end twitched a bit as it lowered its head. Lance froze as years of cat sitting for the neighbors back in Cuba came back to him. It was getting ready to pounce.

In a split second, the lion charged into a gallop. It was so fast Lance didn’t even have time to raise his hands in defense. He flinched, shutting his eyes, preparing to be mauled by the giant cat…

...Being mauled by a giant cat felt softer than he thought.

Instead of claws to his face or teeth in his shoulder, Lance felt two strong arms wrap around his neck. A weight settled against him, gentle but steady. He was certain the lion lacked a mane, but the felt the brush of long soft fur against his cheek--

No. Not fur.

Hair.

Lance cracked an eye open, hearing a sigh against him.

“Lance.”

The same soft voice.

His eyes split open, unfocused. His mouth gaped. A million thoughts rushed through his mind. He almost felt like he would crumble if not for the arms holding him up. He lifted twitching arms, wrapping them carefully and hesitantly against the long white hair. The embrace around him tightened.

“I’ve missed you so much.”

Lance broke. Water drowned his eyes as his brow creased. He buried his face in the hair, trying to muffle his sobs in it. One hand on his back moved up and down, comforting him. He tightened his grip, scared of her disappearing if he loosened it. He choked out another sob.

“...Allura.”

 

\--

 

Keith gasped. He woke with such a start he almost fell. Which was weird because how was he asleep while standing? He remembered sinking. Falling into a dark abyss. Steadying his breaths, he looked around to figure out where he was. 

He was on a plane that expanded for miles. A dark floor resembling obsidian reflected up at him, or at least reflected the only light above him. Millions of stars formed galaxies and constellations in the sky. The space above glowed with shades of dark reds, vibrant violets, and deep blues. A brush of purple clouds moved slowly, dissipating and reforming as they moved. In the distance, a large black orb, a moon Keith guessed, took a dark chunk out of the sky. Scanning above him, Keith noticed three particular stars that not only glowed brighter than the rest, but different colors; one red, one blue, and one a pale pink. 

_ I’ve been here before _ , Keith thought. His mind started to travel back to the memory, but a low growl from behind tensed his body. He turned to the noise, and saw a large cat pacing in front of him. Keith stood still, taking in the beast’s features and movements. He immediately thought lion, but this cat looked bigger, and had different proportions. Large paws and strong muscles flexed with its stride. Its fur was a deep royal purple, and had bright lilac stripes that decorated its entire body. It’s eyes flashed gold. 

Keith was a hawk staring down the animal. He didn’t dare move, hoping the cat might get disinterested, or at least calm down. It did neither, opting to bare its teeth and stretch into a threatening pose. It growled. Keith slowly raised his hand to his side, reaching for his leg. Within a split second, the cat charged.

Keith summoned his bayard and dodged the cat, rolling and landing on his knees, hurrying the quiznak up to a standing position and facing the beast. The cat bared its fangs, looking insulted that Keith didn’t sit still to be clawed at. It hissed, sounding like a hose turning on through a loudspeaker. It paced to the left and charged again, but this time Keith was ready. With the cat only a foot in front of him, Keith sidestepped, then spun and struck the cat with the flat of hit blade, putting all of his strength in the blow. 

The cat whined, sliding far across the floor on its side. Keith huffed, rolling his shoulder. He didn’t think it dislocated, but he definitely hurt it with that hit. He looked up to see the cat--

Or, what WAS the cat.

A mass of black and violet rose from where the cat landed. Its body morphed into new proportions that were definitely not catlike.  A mane of white hair grew from its head down to its back. Hind legs formed into humanoid ones. As it rose, paws transformed into gauntleted hands. It’s purple body darkened into indigo, and shifted from fluff to metal, armor replacing dander. The growls coming from it rose in pitch into more discernible grunts. Keith’s confusion turned to disbelief when it spoke.

“Well done, paladin. However, I must say, you’ve gotten soft.”

The figure rose. It turned.  Steely eyes stared Keith down. Sharp features on his face cut into Keith’s memory. 

“Lotor.”

 

\--

 

It may have been only a minute or so, but Lance felt like an eternity had passed with Allura hugging him. She double patted his back, and pulled back from their embrace.

She was as stunning as a supernova. Her eyes sparkled like a kaleidoscope, shifting from blues to violets. Her smile was bright and beautiful. Her hair cascaded down her shoulders like puffs of clouds leading up to a thunderstorm. She wore a white bodysuit, but wrapped in white robes accented with pink and blue sashes. They hugged her form and ballooned slightly at her ankles, looking like a sari. Her boots were similar in color, and reminded Lance of her old Altean flight suit. 

Of course, it didn’t matter what she wore. She could have been in a hippo onesie and Lance would have been just as shocked and relieved. 

Lance didn’t even bother wiping his tears. He just stood and drank her in, the surrealism of it all wrapping his mind with a million questions.

“I...I can’t believe...you’re really…”

She giggled. The sound alone left Lance feeling like nothing in the world could be bad as long as that laugh could be heard. “Yes, I am. I’m impressed. You figured out where to come. Well done Lance.”

Lance cocked his head to the side, teary laughs escaping his throat. “Well, I did say I’d cross the galaxy to look for you.” Then, the questions started to come out. “Wait, but...you passed on... HOW are you here? Are you the new Guardian of Oriande? Am I dead?!”

Allura pouted, taking in his mild panic and confusion. “I didn’t technically ‘pass on’. I am what would be best described as... a cosmic deity of sorts. No. And no, you’re fine.”

Lance sighed with relief, but then realized, “A DEITY?!”

Allura smiled. “I’m sure your questions will keep building, so I’ll do the best I can to explain. After we saved the universe, I was granted with the task of restoring realities to their proper states. I literally became one with the universe: a being able to interact with how reality works, in order to fix everything. And since then, have made sure the flow of reality remains constant and balanced.”

Lance was pretty sure he understood everything she was saying, even though it was all still mind-boggling. One thought crossed his mind that almost made him flip. “Does that mean you’re like that Bob guy?!”

Flashbacks to the game show that almost got them killed (and Lance dissolved) wracked his brain. He also remembered the little alien god that pitted them in the stupidest games imaginable that Lance was SURE were rigged.

Allura raised her eyebrows, slightly entertained by the idea. “You...could say that. More like Bob is an entity of the chaos of the universe. I would be more like...a manager of sorts. He can also be quite a handful when I need to get things done.”

“You’ve seen him again?”

“Oh, plenty of times. None pleasant. He imploded a star once in a galaxy and made ME clean up the mess.”

While Lance would have loved to just go on with idle chit-chat, he realized there was a more important topic he wanted to cover. “So...if you’ve been alive and okay all this time...why haven’t you come to see... us?”

Allura’s face turned sad. She brought her hands to her elbows defensively. “Lance, you have no idea how much I’ve wanted to see you all again. Or more so, I HAVE seen you; I see almost everything in the universe. But, part of my job is to also protect the universe and keep it in a state of stability. I watch galaxies get created, stars form and die, and I also make sure our reality holds together in one piece. But I must also do so within the laws and limitations of the universe. That amount of responsibility doesn’t exactly allow for me to do anything without a purpose.”

Lance didn’t really understand all of it, but he realized how much Allura had to do. Keeping the universe in check must be a big task, seeing how it was always getting bigger. And then keeping it stable…

“But, that’s just it! There’s these evil Alteans from another reality trying to get more Voltron comets and, well, we haven’t figured out why, but something not good that could mess up the universe!”

Allura’s eyes flashed, a seriousness in her gaze. “Exactly. Their presence has caused many problems for myself, but also for many universes they’ve struck. Which is exactly why I brought you here.”

Lance tensed, a little nervous to what she was about to say, but not shocked when he heard, “Lance, I need you to help save the universe.”

 

\--

 

Keith was in shock. Out of everything he thought he might see on this impromptu mission, he never thought he’d be staring at the face of their old adversary. Maybe there were some good things in Lotor that Allura saw, things that made him out to be the tragic hero, but Keith had barely interacted with Lotor. For Keith, Lotor had always been one to be wary of. And with him standing about ten feet in front of him, Keith was plenty wary. 

“How...how are you here? You died. Is this...is this some kind of afterlife?”

Lotor’s eyes didn’t change. He stared down Keith with absolute displeasure. “A naive fool that doesn’t belong here. Yet you tempt fate by coming anyway.” He raised his hand. Sparkling into existence, a large broadsword materialized into his hand, the blade glowing purple. “Your heritage truly shows your nature.”

Lotor lunged, swinging his sword. Keith brought his own up to block, but the clash threatened to knock the blade out of his hands. Lotor’s press pushed Keith back, his arms screaming with strain. Lotor brought his blade back to strike again, but Keith dipped and ducked under the swing, diving to the left out of the way to dodge. He spun to meet Lotor’s sword again, better footing underneath him, now that he understood Lotor’s strength.

Keith parried and tried for a swing himself, but Lotor was a step ahead, leaning back to kick Keith in the stomach while he was open. Keith gasped, gaining back his breath, quickly parrying another one of Lotor’s strikes. Lotor was a whirlwind of a fighter, blade matching Keith’s blow for blow. 

Lotor struck again, the force knocking back Keith about six feet. Keith huffed as Lotor brought his blade to his side, resting for a minute. Not like he needed it; he didn’t look tired.

“It’s what we are in the end. Our blood isn’t welcomed anywhere. We taint everything we touch. The exact reason I couldn’t reach Oriande. And why you’ll never reach it as well.”

Keith didn’t make it a priority to memorize all of the Altean alchemy talk he’d been exposed to. He left that side to Allura, Coran, and anyone else who was interested. He only had one thought on his mind. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t want to fight you. I’m just trying to find someone.”

Lotor smiled cruelly. “Ha. You believe the two to be separate. How childish.”

He lunged. Keith blocked, watching sparks fly between their swords. Lotor’s snarl made him look identical to the cat form he wore moments ago. Keith's heart pittered, only slightly terrified.

“But that’s what all Galra are. Childish. Foolish. We only know destruction. I know you’ve seen it. They all know it. Ten thousand years can’t be changed. You know they’ll never be accepted fully.”

Keith grunted against him. “You’re...you’re wrong.”

“Am I? After an entire race nearly brought this universe to oblivion, you believe others to forgive and forget? You truly think YOU can bring about that change? You’re no better!”

Lotor wound his blade, wrapping it around Keith’s, and pushed to the side. Keith sword flew out of his hand, skittering out of reach, before transforming back to its bayard form. Keith jumped back, distancing himself with Lotor’s leveled sword that now aimed at his chest. 

 

\--

 

Lance blanked. His arms and shoulders dropped. Allura looked at him with absolute seriousness and confidence, and he couldn’t muster up a single line to rebuke it with. 

“I...you...WHAT?!”

“I need you to save the universe,” Allura repeated. “Well, really I mean all of you, but you have an important part to play, Lance.”

Lance gawked at her, arms moving sporadically. “Whoa! Whoawhoawhoawhoa hold on! What do you expect ME to do?”

Allura shrugged. “I brought you here for a reason Lance. These other Alteans, or Malteans as Hunk called them, I quite like that name, have been causing destruction in too many universes, and are harming the very fabric of reality itself. Their jumping has caused ripples in space and time that could easily split and destroy all forms of life. They’re abusing their gift from the ancients for an evil even I can’t predict.”

“Wait, what gift?”

Allura opened her palm. A projection of a glowing rock appeared above it, glistening as it spun. “The transreality comets. Becoming one with our universe, I learned that the ancient cosmic forces themselves created reality. And for each reality, they gave an unlimited power source, imbued with quintessence. They hoped each reality wold use their comet for innovation. For life. And possibly, to traverse other realities and gain more understanding of existence. To learn from one another in order and become unified, each reality working to become the most perfect version of themselves. In our reality, that hope became Voltron. For others, they misused the power for glory or destruction. They saw the power quintessence held, and utilized it in selfish ways, rather than spreading it to others.

“Just like Honerva…”

Allura lowered her hand, the projection fizzled out of her palm. “Lance, I know this is a difficult responsibility to bear, but I need your help. I called you here to unlock you abilities fully, so you can find these Malteans and stop them from unraveling the universe.”

Lance was stunned. After years without her, missing her, Allura was giving Lance a job to do. One that could mean the fate of their universe. 

“But...why me? Didn’t you say you know all and see all? Can’t you just blast them with mystical cosmic powers or something?”

Allura shook her head. “I can’t directly interfere with the affairs of the universe’s inhabitants. That, and I also can’t see what is beyond the boundaries of our own reality. Whatever this enemy is doing and why, I can’t say,” she shut her eyes in concentration, “but I can say every time they come, they’ve been harming the universe little by little, and they must be stopped.”

The anxiety was starting to creep up Lance’s back. The information was starting to be too much. His head felt like it was in a sensory deprivation chamber; floating and not feeling anything.

“But...what can I do?”

Allura smiled confidently. “When we parted, Lance, my last wish was to be sure you’d be protected. And you have. But now, I realize the full potential of the power you’ve been granted. I can give you the ability to locate the quintessential power of their universe’s comet, and you can stop them once and for all.”

“Can’t you just tell us where we need to go?”

Allura shrugged. “Can’t meddle, remember? And I can only see what the ancients allow. You have to fight your own battles. I can only guide you.”

Lance brought his fists to his sides, shaking. He wanted to protest. He wanted to tell her he wasn’t cut out for the hero stuff anymore. He wanted to explain that he was the least capable person to save anyone…

...No

Lance clenched his fists.

What he really wanted to say was--

“I...I missed you. So much. You gave everything and I...I couldn’t do anything. Now… everything you did...it seems like it’s pointless. Everything we did to save everyone, in the end, it didn’t matter.”

Allura’s expression was apologetic. Her eyes were two blue pools, conveying sympathy and guilt. She placed her hand on Lance’s arm.

“Lance...I know you’ve been hurting. And I’ve wanted nothing more than to take that pain away. I want you to know...I will always cherish the time we spent together. In between the war, it was a peaceful reprieve. It made me feel like...like the weight of the universe didn’t rest on my shoulders. That I could have a simple, happy life.” She squeezed his arm gently, before letting it fall. “But, if I would have known...if I could have seen what would become of us, become of me...I would have never put you through that pain.”

Surprise flashed on Lance’s face. His feet were floored to the ground but he felt his mind take a mental step backward.

Allura wrung her hands. “If I knew I would have to give myself to save reality, I wouldn’t have pushed what we had started. I would want you to be happy, pursuing your own joys, rather than expend your emotions on me, only to get hurt.”

It’s was Lance’s turn to latch on, reaching out to grasp Alluras hands. “That’s not true! I would’ve done anything to make you happy, even for a little while!”

Allura gave him a melancholy smile. she patted his hand, looking at him with love and admiration. “Thank you Lance. Hearing you say that means so much,” she paused, “...it’s also why you deserve just as much happiness.”

That made Lance falter. His grip on Allura twitched, releasing her hands and dropping his to the sides. He heard her, but his brain could only comprehend the opposite.

“Lance. While I couldn’t communicate with you, I’ve kept my eye on you. All I’ve ever wanted was for you to live your life to the fullest. To experience everything the universe has to offer. And to do so because YOU chose to. I empathize with your grief, but, my only wish was to see you be your best, and to make your own happiness.”

Lance grimaced. “I...I don’t know. I haven’t really done anything that really merits...being happy. I think I’d rather see everyone else succeed, and not have to worry about me.”

“But that’s your selflessness, Lance! You’ve learned to put everyone above your own needs and glory...And that’s why you’re the perfect person for this task. I’ve told you before. You have a greatness within you. Now is the time to let it out.”

She approached him, cupping her hands to each side of his temple. She closed her eyes, and her hands started to glow with a bright energy. 

Lance felt like his mind was clearing, like this entire time he’d had the worst migraine that was now washing away. He closed his eyes as well, letting himself drift with the comfort. 

 

\--

 

Keith stared down Lotor. He watched every little movement, waiting for a time to strike. Not like he wanted to; all he wanted was to get out of here and look for Lance. But Lotor wasn’t giving him a choice. A horrible thought crossed his mind, imagining Lance going through a similar struggle.

Lotor cackled in front of him. “Don’t flatter yourself. Your companion has entered a level of Oriande you couldn’t possibly hope to reach.”

Keith’s eyes widened. Lotor could hear what he was thinking. Well, being in a cosmic plane of existence, that didn't surprise him. But what Lotor said calmed Keith slightly. So that meant Lance WAS still here. All the more reason for Keith to hurry up and end this so he could keep looking. Keith readied himself, bringing up his fists.

Lotor twisted his blade accusingly at Keith. “You really believe you’ll get past me? To a place where only the purest may tread? You have the true arrogance of a Galra, that I’ll grant you. But the violent nature of our blood will never allow one like you to go on. Oriande is for those who create. Not the cursed who only decimate.”

Keith scowled. “I’m not here to talk about race or power or lineage. All I’m here to do is find. My. Friend.”

“And do what? Destroy more than you already have? I can see into your life, your being, and know you’ are not a stranger to destruction!”

In one swift sprint, Lotor dashed to Keith. Time slowed down. Lotor brought his blade up to slash at Keith’s middle, the sword inching closer…

...And met with a luxite blade.

Keith thanked the heavens he timed it perfectly, waiting for the last possible moment to whip out his Marmorite blade. The tension between the two swords caused sparks to fly. Both warriors glared at one another. Keith pressed back and pushed, knocking Lotor slightly off balance. Keith spun the blade in his hand and struck again, bringing his sword down. Lotor met the attack with his own blade, Keith finally putting him on the defense. A few more slashes pressed Lotor back a few steps. Keith tried looking for an opening, but Lotor matched him move for move, and his size put him at the advantage. 

Keith tried for an upswing, but Lotor caught his movements, and went for a jab. Keith jumped to the side, inches away from impalement, before Lotor swung and their blades clashed once more. Keith’s nerves were on edge. They were evenly matched, and he had no idea how he could get Lotor down long enough to subdue him. 

Lotor pressed him hard, his teeth clenched tight in a glower. “It’s a bit ironic though. All of your destruction is self inflicting. You ruin everything in your life by abandoning what you can’t control.” Lotor swung to the right as Keith blocked. “You abandon those who try to help you succeed,” a blow to the left that Keith almost missed, “you abandon your friends who need you to be their leader,” another swipe down, Keith using both his arms to block and support his blade, “and now, you are so desperate to avoid any pain, that you’ll abandon one who is important to you. You’re so imbued with your Galra blood that you’d ruin your own life for the sake of others!”

Keith’s temper rose, blood boiling in his veins and muddling his brain. His breaths came out quicker. He could feel his heart hammering in his ribcage. Each sentence Lotor spoke was as bad as each of his sword strikes. He rebelled against the Garrison, despite Shiro’s encouragement. He left his team for the Blade of Marmora, leaving them with a disjointed group that could have thrived under him. 

And now, even though he was searching for Lance, Keith couldn’t help but agree with Lotor. No matter what he did, it felt like he was pushing Lance away, rather than trying to reach out to him. He’d tried to be a part of Lance’s life since he moved to Altea, but each visit only reconfirmed that Keith wasn’t making anything better, and only driving away the feelings that could help Lance overall. 

It scared Keith, because Lotor was right.

He was destroying his own life.

Lotor must have felt Keith’s hesitation, because he pulled back and Keith lost his footing. Lotor swuing his blade, Keith ready to block, but Lotor feinted and spun, bringing the sword around and slashing at Keith, cutting his arm.

Keith shouted in pain as Lotor spun again for another swipe. Keith met his blade again to block, the two of them pressing against each other. The emotion and pain made it hard for Keith to strategize, and so far only focus on not dying. 

Lotor’s smile twisted like a snake, venom in his words, “You’re just like me. You want so much for your life. But in the end, you can only watch it burn in front of you. And in the end, you’ll end up just like me. Alone. Betrayed. And watch all of your desires die because you’re content with your own demise!”

That was enough.

Keith roared. He pressed with all his might, knocking Lotor on his heels, forcing him to take a few steps back to gain his balance. Keith didn’t let him. He charged and swung his sword, using the flat of the blade to slap Lotor’s side. Lotor tried to cut at Keith, but he was too quick. Keith ducked and brought his fist up, punching lotor on the face. Lotor blinked away his surprise and uppercutted Keith in response, the force knocking off Keith’s helmet. Not wasting the opportunity, Keith spun with the punch, twisting his body around to kick Lotor in the gut. The blow sent a grunt of air out of Lotor’s lungs. Not giving him a chance to recover, Keith shifted his blade into a knife, the smaller object allowing him to use his hands to grab hold of Lotor’s arm. Twisting it, Keith using all of his strength to throw Lotor through the air, and slammed him on his back, knocking his sword out of his hands.

Lotor grunted. He opened his eyes to see Keith, pinning him on the ground, breathing heavily. His blade shifted back into a full length sword, aimed directly at Lotor. Sweat poured down Keith’s hairline, adrenaline clouding his thoughts and actions.

Lotor smiled. “And so I’m proven right once again.”

Keith’s breaths came out with an audible rasp to them. His arm shook, so ready to just end everything right now. He looked to the side of Lotor’s head, the black mirror of the ground reflecting the stars in the sky.

Keith looked and saw his own face--

Did...did he always have fangs?

Keith was mesmerized. It was his face, if he thought of the scariest, most cruel version of himself. His scowl contorted into what he could only describe as a beast. His eyes were sharp. Feline-like. Their normal dark storminess was replaced by a bright violet. His sclera glowed a sickly yellow. Like he noticed from earlier, his jaw was clenched into a tight grimace, and small fangs elongated his canines. 

His face slacked. This wasn’t him. Couldn’t be. His expression scared himself. 

“What are you waiting for paladin?”

Keith’s vision shifted back to Lotor. 

“Go on. Show me the Galra blood that flows through you. How you can’t escape the desire to eradicate everything in your path! Victory or death!”

Keith twitched. It was enough. He wanted it to be over. The feelings. The fight. Everything. 

Keith shouted. He drew back his hand, thrusting his blade down. 

…

…

The blade sunk deep. Keith’s body was rigid and shaking. He panted, his grip on the hilt of his blade tight. He looked down to Lotor’s shocked face, and the blade mere inches away from it. 

Keith took a moment to breathe. To calm himself. Shiro’s trusty mantra echoed in his skull, bringing him back to the present, and out of whatever manic funk he’d been in. Keith relaxed, leaning back on his knees above Lotor. He looked down, Lotor’s expression softening, growing more intrigued as the seconds ticked on.

Keith took a deep breath. “The Galra...aren’t like that...anymore.”

Keith straightened. He rose above Lotor, towering over him as he laid there. Keith left his sword in the ground.

“The Galra aren’t a race of violent soldiers anymore. We’ve been working for years to put the war behind us. But we know...for others, it’s going to take more time. But we HAVE made a difference,” confidence and grit seeped it’s way into Keith’s voice, “we’ve reconciled with many planets. We’ve aided those that call for help. And we’re showing to the universe that we want to change. That we want to be better. That we want to work with people.” Keith lowered his head, his voice growing softer. ”And...I don’t think we could have done that without you.”

A question quirked on Lotors face.

“You were the one who started unifying the Galra for peace. You tried to turn them away from conquering, and move to cooperation. It may not have worked out in the best way, but you at least got them to think. To ask the question ‘is this right?’” 

Keith offered his hand. Lotor’s distrusting glare didn’t phase him.

“It’s going to be long road. But the Galra are willing to walk it, if it means acceptance, and forgiveness, somewhere down the line.”

Keith’s hair stood on edge. He felt like he was holding his hand out to a snake poised to strike. But his head told him there was no reason to fight. He didn’t want to give Lotor the satisfaction. The Galra had changed. He’d changed. Or at least, Keith wanted to change.

A tense silence passed between them. Lotor still wore a glare, but he raised his hand, clasping Keith’s. Keith hauled him up, the two squaring each other. Lotor was a blank. Keith was pretty sure his speech sounded promising and inspirational, but it didn’t look like he made a difference. Lotor sighed. bringing his face back up, a pleased smile stretching on his lips.

“Well, it sounds like you’re improving one aspect of your life. At least others are benefitting from it.”

Keith’s tension fell, along with his shoulders. He huffed out a breath of relief. Exhaustion settled in his bones. It had been a long time since he’d been in a fight that taxing. Lotor made him work his body and mind to their near brink. The weird thing was, Keith practically welcomed it.

Lotor placed a hand on his hip. “I suppose your partially worthy. At least worthy enough as a protector. A guardian. Perhaps there’s hope for your mission after all.”

Keith quirked his eyebrow, Lotor’s words came at him like a foreign language. “What are you talking about?”

Lotor looked to the right, towards the horizon line. Keith followed his gaze. A sunrise lit the plane in a glow of reds, shifting to soft oranges. Light filled the sky. The stars sparkled and puttered out in the excess light. The only ones Keith could still see were the stars colored red, blue, and pink. 

Lotor looked back to him. “Your task won’t be easy. Much rides on your success. That, and your role as the catalyst to make sure it all falls into place.”

“What do you mean? What role? Do you know how to stop the invaders?”

Lotor extended his hand. He looked at Keith fondly, as if they’d been brothers in arms, parting after years of service.

“Don’t be afraid of what’s to come. Even if it seems hopeless. Even if you’re on the verge of defeat, you’ll be the one to spark the flames when the time comes. So, make sure you protect the matchstick until then.”

Everything Lotor said was gibberish. Keith couldn’t tell if the riddles were meant to be a joke or literal. The one thing he caught on was, whatever they were going to have to do, Keith was going to play a part. 

Keith took Lotor’s hand, gripping it tight, but then shaking it, a smile appearing on his face. While he was tired and just wanted to leave to find Lance, he did want to try and make this experience worth something.

“How can we stop the invaders?”

Lotor cocked his brow. “How do you stop any of your enemies, paladin?”

The orange light enveloped them, until Keith had to squint to see. Lotor’s form grew brighter and brighter, until the light completely covered him. Keith’s eye shut tight, the light blinding him and intense behind his eyelids. Warmth filled his body, soothing him. He let it carry his thoughts into unconsciousness.

 

\--

 

Lance felt like a cloud in the atmosphere. His thoughts stopped jumbling together and he felt focused. Warmth surrounded his body like an electric blanket, wrapping him in safety. The painful tugging sensation in his stomach gradually decreased, feeling like he’d just had the most delicious meal that stuffed him. Everything started to feel right. More right than he’d felt in three long years.

Allura removed her hands. 

The warmth left his body. He could feel his anxiety start to creep back up his spine. The weight of his task rested on his shoulders, but now there was a conviction within him that told him he’d be alright. Lance was still struggling to believe it.

Allura ventured a question, “How do you feel?”

Lance squeezed his fists. A heat began at his palms that went up his arm. A new strength coursed through him. But overall, he still felt like Lance.

“Alright, I guess. Not really any different...are you sure I’ll know what to do?”

“You tell me. Try focusing. Feel the quintessence of the universe. Seek out the pinpoint of power.”

Lance shut his eyes, feeling a little silly since he had no idea what he was doing. He tried imagining Voltron, since he remembered it was made of that space-comet-stuff. He went back to their journey to the other universe with the OTHER other Alteans, remembering the comet they retrieved and Lotor stole right after. The tug in Lance’s stomach pulled directly behind him. He turned, but nothing was there except the blue horizon.

Allura placed her arms at her back, bouncing with pride. “It looks like you know where to go.”

Lance looked at her in awe.  _ How? _ How did she have this much confidence in him? Lance had never been the go-to guy. Never the one with the responsibility. Yet, here Allura was, placing the fate of the universe in his hands like it was the natural thing to do. 

“I...I think so--“

Allura’s hand shot up. She gripped his ear, hard. “You think?!”

“GAH! I know! I know!” She let go of his ear, Lance rubbing the pain out best he could. He DID know, it was his sense of dread that doubted if he wanted to know. He looked up at her skeptically. “So, if I have Altean powers, does that mean I can shoot lasers out of my hands or make electricity like you could?”

Allura deadpanned. “It’s more complicated than that. You’ve simply become more attuned to the universe. You can feel and channel quintessence within yourself. Sensing the transreality comet’s quintessence is just one facet. I would love to show you more, but, I don’t have much time.”

Her words settled over Lance. A sense of sorrow passed over him. He’d been so happy to see her again. So happy to know she was okay, that he forgot he’d have to face the reality of having to say goodbye. Again.

Lance slumped. His thoughts turned towards the future of explaining all that he’d experienced to his team. One thought crossed his mind. The one thing he knew he needed answered before he left.

“How do we stop them? Once we even find where we’re supposed to go, how are we even going to get in their reality?”

A mischievous smile passed over Allura’s lips. “You know exactly how.”

The scary thing was, Lance did. And if that was the case, they might be in more trouble than they thought.

Lance took a deep breath. While his brain shook with terror and stress from all of the information he just ingested, he puffed out his chest, mustering up as much gusto as he could. “Alright. Find the bad guys. Take ‘em down. Save the universe, again. No sweat. We got this in the bag.” He shot Allura a pair of finger guns, blowing off the finger smoke after his fire. 

Allura giggled. Her smile was like the sugar in a spoon of medicine. The sweet taste that would lead way to relief. Lance watched her glow, feeling her presence as a memory, as the present, and as a hope for a future where he might actually succeed at something in his life. 

But, he also watched her LITERALLY glow.

Allura’s form sparkled with fairy lights. Her image started to fade at her legs, dissipating into light. Panic blossomed in Lance’s chest.

“What? What’s happening?!”

Allura looked at her legs, only mildly inconvenienced. “Oh, quiznak. I’m out of time. If only being a cosmic being meant bending the rules a little bit. Lance, remember what I said. You must find the Malteans and stop them from jumping universes. I’ve given you how to find them, now you have to get the way to cross over.”

“Wait! There’s still so much I want to say! I’m still not sure what to do! Allura, please, don’t leave again!” Lance’s voice cracked at the end. He didn’t even realize he’d said it, but it was the biggest emotion in his heart. He reached his arm out, grasping Allura’s. Tears streamed down his face. He wanted to tell her so much. Ask so much. Instead, she answered him.

“I know Lance. I know. It hurts. And now, it’s time you give yourself the chance to heal.” She smiled at him encouragingly, before quirking it up higher, a laugh in her voice. “You just need to get in that healing pod for a bit, and I know there will be someone there to greet you when you come out.”

Lance’s nose twitched with confusion. Allura only looked back at him with assurance, hope...and love. So much love. Lance’s eyes grew heavier as he looked at her.

“N...no…”

“Good luck Lance. You’ll be great. And remember...”

Light flooded lance’s vision, a cloud of warmth and security pulled him away. 

“You’re not alone.”

 

\--

 

Lance felt like a swimmer with all the air his lungs had been gasping today.

He jolted awake. Bright pink and purple shapes came into focus. He stood outside the temple. His legs kept him upright, but one step and they’d melt like jelly. He looked back up at the temple. A thousand thoughts swarmed his brain. He couldn’t believe what just happened. He just saw Allura. He TALKED to Allura. After three years of feeling sorry for himself, he just saw the one person who could have made everything right again.

Except, Lance didn’t feel right. Not in the least bit.

“Lance!”

A shout and scuffle to his side brought his attention down. Running towards him like a bullet, was Keith. He looked scuffed up, a cut ran down the side of his arm. His face was that same mixture of emotions Lance had a hard time placing: fear, relief, and victory, all rolled into one. His eyes were directly on Lance, unwavering. 

Lance turned with one step, and immediately broke. His face crumpled as tears welled in his eyes. He felt his breath hitch. Keith’s own face grew more concerned, picking up his pace as he ran. As he reached him, Lance fell against him, his legs finally giving out over the exhaustion and emotion they were locked with. Keith caught him as they both hit their knees to the ground. Lance had his head and fists rested against Keith’s breastplate. Sobs hiccuped out of him. The ground got distinctly wetter as he sat there.

Keith didn’t know what to say. From what he could gather, Lance’s experience must have been VERY different compared to his. Keith’s heart contracted with each sob. He slowly raised his hands, placing them on Lance’s back, making sure not to move too much, lest Lance shatter anymore than he was. Keith leaned his head forward, shifting himself to be a more stable anchor. He sat in silence, allowing Lance to let what he needed to out, breathing him in, his scent warm. Keith may have just teleported to an alternate plane of existence, fought an old adversary, and discovered a way they could fight against their foes, but only one thing settled his mind.

Lance was safe.

Keith paced his breaths, in and out, becoming a calming metronome. “I’m...I’m here, Lance...it’s okay.”

Lance’s sobs started to come out in short bursts. His breaths began to match Keith’s, following his rhythm. He still shuddered with grief, but, he found it getting more bearable, even if it was miniscule.

A bright flash of light brought their eyes up. Kosmo bolted for them a few yards away, skidding as he stopped short in front of them. He sniffed all over Keith, checking to make sure his friend was okay and not dead. He turned to Lance, lightly sniffing, before using just the tip of his tongue to lap up Lance’s tears. Lance’s chuckles cracked, reaching up a hand to pet Kosmo. 

Muffled shouts of elation carried across the cliff. Running towards the two of them, eyes frantic but overjoyed, were Pidge and Hunk. Above them, the Altas flew slow, lowering into its descent. 

Lance’s sigh came out jittery. Keith moved to put his arm around him protectively, and slowly hoisted them both up. He didn’t look, but Keth felt Lance’s questioning stare. Right now, Keith didn’t want to worry about anything in his own head. He just wanted to get them both in a healing pod to take a quick nap. 

 

\--

 

Keith didn’t need to be told Kosmo was a good boy. He knew that already.

As soon as the team boarded the Atlas, Keith made a beeline with Lance for the healing pods, wanting both of them in a better physical state before they told their tales. About an hour later, the Atlas departed Oriande and drifted out into space. The team convened in one of the ship’s break rooms, Lance and Keith wrapped with warming blankets and cups of hot tea.

Hunk relayed to them that thirty minutes after Keith left to follow Lance, Kosmo popped into existence in front of himself and Pidge, barking and pacing back and forth. Both of them panicked, rushing after the wolf, grasping on to Kosmo and teleporting with him to the front of the temple, only to find the doors shut. Hunk tried to calm the wolf, but Kosmo kept hopping and whining, popping in and out of existence. Pidge and Hunk ended up chasing after him up and down hills. Eventually, he halted and disappeared for a good ten minutes, before appearing back at their sides, exhausted. Shiro filled in Kosmo had jumped all the way from Oriande back to the deck of the Atlas, signaling something was wrong. Shiro then called for the Atlas to approach Oriande at full speed. 

When Kosmo appeared back, the trio walked around the temple trying to find an opening. As they rounded to the front, Kosmo’s nose and ears perked up, causing Pidge to grab Hunk’s hand and place both of theirs on the wolf before he disappeared. Soon enough, they landed and found Keith and Lance huddled on the ground.

While certainly not in the mood, Lance took a sip of his tea and began his story. He described the temple and the statues, and how his powers were able to unlock a gate into a plane of blue. He told them about seeing the lion, and how the lion…

“...turned into Allura. She’s become a cosmic deity, and watches and protects the universe…”

The silence spoke volumes. Everyone’s eyes watered as Lance continued. He told them Allura was fine and she’d helped him unlock his abilities. He described her showing him how to find the Malteans. Hunk and Coran sniffed loudly, Pidge wiped her eyes. Shiro smiled sympathetically. His eyes drifted over to Keith.

Keith’s face was dark, turned down and away from the conversation. He gripped his mug tight, his shoulders hunched. His brow creased and his lip jutted into a pout. Shiro thought he looked conflicted, like he wanted to say something, but he stopped the words from coming out.

Lance finished his story, telling them he could sense where the comet was to find the Malteans. Shiro nodded, turning his head. “Keith? Want to tell us what you saw?”

Keith jumped, spilling a bit of tea. His expression shifted from broody teenager to a kid caught breaking a window: guilty.

Keith sighed, relaying his experiences. He described getting separated from Kosmo and sinking into the floor, finding himself in the astral plane. He recounted his fight with the large cat, and how it turned into Lotor, mocking and berating him about his Galra heritage. Everyone’s shocked expressions pegged Keith, but he continued. He relived the fight, how Lotor matched him move for move and was a tough opponent, but Keith got the upper hand to pin him. He told them he called for a truce, telling Lotor the Galra were different, and how Lotor conceded. He left out the little tidbit at the end, about him playing a part in their mission.

Shiro crossed his arms. “Alright, so now we know how to find the Malteans. We should get a heading and start a course.”

“Uh, Shiro, we may know where to go, but we have no way to GET to their reality,” Pidge interjected.

Hunk also raised a hand. “Yeah, and even if we find them, they took down the Atlas like it was nothing. How do we expect to beat them on their home turf?”

Lance and Keith side eyed each other. An understanding passed through both of their eyes. 

“There is...one way.”

Eyes darted to Keith, but Lance supplied the answer.

“...We need Voltron.”

The awkwardness in the room could spoil milk.

Pidge fidgeted. “Yeah, uh, one problem. We don’t have Voltron anymore. And we haven’t seen any sign of the Lions for two years. Plus, we have no way to track them...I’ve tried.”

Coran popped up behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders. “That’s right! The Lions weren’t needed anymore since the universe finally reached peace.”

“Yes, but with an enemy like this, we really need them again,” Shiro countered, “maybe they’ll come if we call them.”

Pidge pouted. “Shiro we’ve been in two fights where we barely scraped by. Don’t you think the Lions would have come running if we were in that much danger?”

Shiro deflated. Pidge’s logic was hard to beat. The Lions would have probably mauled the Malteans’ ship if they’d sensed their paladins. But none of them came. “But if that’s the only way to stop them, what choice do we have?”

Keith raised his chin. “So then...where do we start looking?”

No one offered a suggestion. Coran whistled a tune in the air. Pidge cupped her elbow and tapped her forehead. Keith looked over at Lance, who was so hunched over the steam of his mug floated directly up to his chin. 

“What if...we go to Arus?”

All eyes landed on Hunk, the sudden attention making him flinch.

“Arus?” Keith questioned.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s where it all kind of started, right? Finding out about the Lions, forming Voltron for the first time. It’s not a lead but, it’s not too far away, and I think we all deserve a mental break right now. Maybe we can get a game plan for what to do.”

Shiro blanked. Hunk’s intuition was something he always forgot about. But at the same time, he sure appreciated it whenever Hunk used it.

“That’s actually a great idea Hunk. We can assess our options and let everyone rest a bit.”

Coran clicked his heels. “I’ll go get us on our way. We’ll let those little Arusians know we’re coming in for a pit stop.” He turned and dashed out the room, the door sliding behind him. 

Shiro turned. “Pidge, go tell your dad what we found out. Maybe try again to see if there’s some way you can track the Lions.”

She nodded, following Coran’s lead out the door. Shiro turned back to the two couch potatoes. “And let’s get you two in some beds to rest.”

Shiro stretched his arm out to Keith, which he took. Hunk offered a shoulder for Lance to lean on. They both left the break room in opposite directions, Keith stealing a quick look at Lance behind him, before turning his head forward. 

“You okay?” Shiro ventured.

“Fine.” Keith cut short. Their footsteps echoed in the hall.

“...You’re upset Lance saw Allura.”

Keith turned so quickly he almost took Shiro’s mech arm with him. The pained and incredulous look on his face tossed Shiro back years ago, to a boy of only thirteen giving him the same look.

“Of course not.”

Shiro paused, waiting for the answer rather than prompting it. Keith clenched his fists.

“It’s just...for three years...I’ve tried to do...SOMETHING to help. And I’ve realized, I think I’ve been pushing away more than anything. And for all of this to start happening...I feel like I’ve pushed myself too far away to even try.”

Shiro placed a hand on Keith’s back, a brotherly smile in his eyes. “Keith, he needs you now more than ever. You ARE helping. Trust me.”

Keith sighed, knowing Shiro meant well. He tried his best to believe it, but Lotor’s words kept coming back to him.

 

\--

 

Hunk stood at the threshold of Lance’s room, letting him off his shoulder and slumping over the doorway.

“Thanks Hunk.”

“You okay man?”

Lance’s hands went to his pockets. His shoulders pushed forward as his head receded. His gaze didn’t meet Hunk’s, but lilted to his shoulder. 

“Yeah, I’m cool. All good.”

Hunk scrunched his nose, frowning. Lance imagined he was getting ready to blow out of his nostrils really hard, and braced for the noise, flinching. While he was prepared for a sneeze that could topple even Shiro, what he ended up feeling were two large arms, wrapping him tight. Not the same squeeze like the jaws of life, but a hug that protected, healed, and warmed. Lance stood in shock, unsure of the gesture.

“It’s okay, man. You don’t have to play macho all the time. I’ve seen you in a duckie onesie.”

Lance let his eyes open wide, then fall and squeeze shut, the third round of tears for the day welling up in them. At first, he lightly placed his hands on Hunk’s back, then stretched and wrapped around the big teddy bear, squeezing tight. He breathed in Hunk’s snickerdoodle scent, his fears, temper, and grief releasing with each sob. Hunk rubbed his back in circles, using his fingers to massage out the tension near Lance’s shoulder blades.

“Th...thanks Hunk.”

“Never a problem, man.”

It had been a long day. Lance felt like he’d been put through a wormhole jump inside of a washing machine. His body ached. His heart ached. But he did remember one thing that set a little warmth inside him.

Standing here, hugging Hunk, remembering all the concerned faces on him in the rec room, Lance saw Allura was right.

He wasn’t alone.

He just hoped he’d be enough for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll tell you: I cried writing the reunion. Like it hit me emotionally and I was like :"( WELL, after that roller coaster, where better to get some R&R than the village of shorties! 
> 
> Be sure to check out my tumblr and twitter (@hoelko for both) and instagram (@hoelko_doods) for poster art AND clips of episodes that I post periodically!


	6. Get by with a Little Help

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew makes a pitstop on a familiar place. Hunk makes things sweet. Pidge plays mind games. Lance lets out some air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're gonna have a little fun this episode, since the team desperately deserves it. Call this my "Space Mall" or "Monsters and Mana", if you will.  
> Note: The italics in this episode notes a change in perspective. Hope that makes sense.  
> Note note: I have never played DnD. Bear with me.

Planet Arus’s sky was as blue as they remembered. White cotton candy clouds floated through the atmosphere. The greens of the forests contrasted the sands of the deserts and beaches, showing off the duality of the planet. The ocean lapped and crashed against the harbor grey cliffs, sending rocks splashing down into the sea. A small village rested in the valley to the southeast. Huts sat beside taller (for an Arusian) modern buildings, where inside they would be discussing trade and diplomacy with other planets.

The Atlas touched down on the old lookout cliff, the same one where the Castle of Lions used to reach into the sky. An entourage of Arusians ran to meet them, cheering and bouncing to see their favorite allies return. The Atlas crew walked down the cargo ramp, greeted by drums and wind instruments as the Arusians welcomed them. One of the taller, more portly inhabitants bounded to them. The Arusian king huffed, flanked by two emissaries.

“The warriors of Voltron have returned to us! We are blessed to have you visit after so long an absence! Commence dance of welcoming!”

The pair of Arusians dashed to the front. Their dance was as if they combined step dancing with patty-cake, stomping their feet to a drum beat, clapping each other’s hands and slapping their arms. At one point it looked like one was imitating a chicken while the other did the worm on the ground.

Shiro’s nostril twisted with embarrassment, his crew following suit at the over-the-top welcome.

“Is this really necessary?” Shiro absently spoke aloud.

“It is. Or they’ll start throwing themselves on a fire as sacrifices.”

Shiro whipped his head over to Hunk, eyes wide and mouth in a long thin line.

The Arusians finished their dance, pirouetting into each other’s arms as one dipped the other. The Atlas crew clapped with gratitude. The king stepped forward, raising his arms. “We welcome our friends to our home! The Lion Goddess has bestowed upon us a wondrous gift! The omens of the rumbling earth have led way to the joys of future happiness! Hoorah!”

A resounding “Hoorah” echoed through the crowd. Pidge cocked her head to the side. “Rumbling earth?”

The king turned solemn. “Many moons ago, the ground quaked and thundered across the land. The ocean reared and crashed. The mountain shook, its peak bursting. The trees blew and the desert spun a cloud that swept through the village. Many were frightened. Until all went quiet. Surely it was a message from the Goddess. And now, you have come!”

Shiro looked to Pidge. “Think it could have been the Malteans?”

Pidge crossed her arms. “We’d know if they’d been here. Sounds more like a weird natural disaster.” She looked up to the mountain top. Sure enough, its peak was jagged and clipped as if something blew from it. Or, Pidge squinted, more like something crashed into it.

A slim Arusian darted forward from the crowd. His little legs wobbled as he slid, saluting right in front of Keith. “Warrior Keith. It is good to see you again. Klaizap has trained our warriors with your techniques in mind. We have become a strong force, ready for any foe. Pray we should never use it, thanks to the spread of your peace.”

Keith smiled, extending his hand. He shook lightly, Klaizap’s fitting entirely in his palm. “Good to hear.”

Lance nudged Keith’s arm with his elbow. “Aw, it’s your favorite peanut.” Keith went rigid, his temple bulging.

Shiro faced the king. “Thank you for the hospitality. We won’t be long, but if there’s anything you need, we’d be happy to help.” He turned to the crew. “If there’s anything you want to do, just be courteous of our hosts’ generosity. Don’t impede on any business, and enjoy your time. We'll spend about a day and a half prepping supplies before taking off.”

The crew dispersed. Shiro caught the MFEs chatting with a group of starry eyed Arusians. Rizavi snuggled one in her arms while a smaller Arusian gripped Griffin’s middle tight. Shiro swore he heard the bass of Kincade’s voice, but closer inspection led to it actually coming from the Arusian shaking his hand. A group of Arusian children all huddled around Kosmo. Two were atop his back, and many hugged or petted him. He thanked as many as he could with plenty of kisses.

Coran tapped Shiro's shoulder. “You think it’ll be alright to stay here? The Malteans could track us before. What if they come again?”

Pidge tilted her glasses, a toothy grin raised on the side of her mouth. “Took care of that, Coran. Remember the foot I got? Since it’s still technically Altean, Dad, Matt and I were able to reverse-engineer the signal output, and apply it to our cloaking technology. Their radio cancelling tech is working for us now.”

Shiro beamed.  If it weren’t for Pidge, they might not have survived all those years in space. He surveyed his team.

“So, how are we going to do this?”

 

\--

 

They stood on the lookout cliff, admiring the sea from where the Castle of Lions used to perch. Ocean birds flew overhead with the breeze, disappearing behind clouds and diving into the water for a bite to eat. The wind whipped at the team. The sun shone so bright Lance picked up his hand to shield his eyes. Hunk coughed next to him.

“So...gonna use your Altean-powers to find the Lions?”

Lance shot his squint at him. “What makes you think I know where they are?”

“Well, Allura told you how to find the Malteans. I mean, isn’t it like the same thing? Sensing energy or something like that?”

“She didn’t exactly teach me that part Hunk. We kinda focused more on the ‘let’s stop the bad guys from killing us’ aspect.”

Pidge pouted. “Then we really have no way of finding the Lions, do we?”

Five out of six pairs of shoulders slouched in unison. Keith huffed out a gruff sigh. Coran tapped his foot rapidly. Kosmo scratched his ear. The wind swirled their thoughts around them, but none were good enough to reach up and grab…

...Save for Shiro.

“Maybe...we don’t need to find them...Maybe we can make them come to us.

Heads turned to look at him. Shiro clenched his fists at his sides. “The Lions came when you called to them across a solar system. If you focus, then maybe they’ll come again.”

Pidge raised her hand. “Shiro, we were in battle TWICE and they didn’t come. Plus these dorks just went through some heavy trauma and they still didn’t show up,” Lance and Keith shivered and froze, faces sliding into a light shade of red. “Doesn’t sound like they’re eager to get to us.”

“I know we haven’t had any luck, but...maybe there’s just something we’re missing.”

Coran popped up a finger. “Well, for one thing, you all haven't been Team Voltron in quite some time. Perhaps wherever the Lions are, they can sense how you’ve all been separated these past few years. I would say first step is to get that Paladin bonding mojo back!”

Pidge and Hunk pursed their lips, impressed. Shiro was stunned by how accurate Coran’s theory was. If they wanted to become Paladins of Voltron again, they’d actually have to BE paladins.

“Well...can’t exactly bond as a team when we’re missing one of them.”

Eyes shot to Lance faster than a shooting star. He was looking at the ground, eyes small and dark. Shiro knew what he meant, and really felt for him. Still, in the back of his mind, Shiro couldn’t help but feel a little twinge of—

“We’re not missing anyone.”

Even Lance perked his gaze up to Keith, everyone now looking at him. Shiro tensed, concerned he might have to cool Keith’s temper. Keith, however, huffed out a sigh.

“I know we don’t have Allura, and we could never truly replace her, but... WE are the original Paladins. We’re the ones who found the Blue Lion years ago.” Keith turned. “Shiro, you may have gone on to pilot the Atlas, but you’ve always been there with us. The Black Lion chose you first. It saved you when your body perished. No matter what, you’ve been a part of this team. As long as we’re all together, I think we can get the Lions back. We can worry about finding a new Blue Paladin later.”

...Shiro was speechless. He stared in awe at Keith for a solid minute. He’d always figured it was his job to lecture Keith about worth and duty. Steer him on a path to success and wisdom. Now, he was on the other end of it. Shiro’s chest swelled. He realized, he’d done exactly what he wanted to do all those years ago, after he met a scrappy kid given a bad hand.

He had made Keith a leader.

Keith turned back towards the team. “So, how about we get our gear on and do a bit of training. Maybe getting us back into Paladin fighting form might help us connect with one another.”

The groans from four members of the team were overdramatic, Keith thought. Shiro smirked. Keith crossed his arms indignantly. “Well, you guys have any better ideas?”

Hunk jumped up and down, waving his hand. “Oh! Oh! I know! Some nice quality time, plus a way we can work together on a common goal.”

Pidge poked his elbow. “Hey, I’ve got an idea how we can connect too.”

“We’ll try them all!” Coran leaned in between them. “No one says there can’t be TOO much bonding time! How about you each have a crack at an activity. I’ll help decide the order. I’m thinking of a number between one and one-hundred.” He shut his eyes for three tics, then clapped his hands together. “First is Hunk, then Keith, Lance, Shiro, then Pidge rounds off the end. Let’s get a move on!” He about-faced, marching down the bridge to the mainland, Hunk, Pidge, and Keith in tow, Kosmo bounding and wagging his tail.

Shiro frowned. “Wait, how did...we didn’t even get to guess…”

Lance shoved his hands in his pockets. “Better not to question it Shiro. Just go with it.”

Shiro looked at him. Lance’s overall stature the past day had been a ducked head and hunched shoulders. Shiro thought after a day, Lance’s tired eyes after a day of crying would go away (of course, after meeting Allura on Oriande, Shiro knew Lance cried; he’d be more concerned if he hadn’t), but the wrinkles and redness remained.

“Everything alright Lance?” Shiro hoped Lance could hear the other questions he had in his voice.

Lance looked to him, the exhaustion wiping off and leaving behind a curious innocence. “Yeah. I’m good. Come on, let’s catch up.” He started walking down the bridge.

Shiro waited behind. Lance’s back looked so small and fragile. He wanted, more than anything, to see the proud and rambunctious boy he met in the desert again, full of optimism and macho. He’d tried for years to be a rock for Lance to latch on to whenever he needed. The only problem was, Lance never reached out to grasp it.

Shiro hung his head, following the team. Thoughts of what Hunk’s activity for bonding started to form in his head.

 

\--

 

“Just a couple more minutes and you guys should be just about done!” Hunk passed over the backs of his friends, themselves crouching in front of stone ovens, watching their cookies bake through.

The Arusian king was generous enough to let them use the kitchen hut for Hunk’s activity, getting bowls, spoons, pans, and all the other supplies they would need to bake. Hunk also scrounged around the Atlas kitchen for extras like chocolate chips and sprinkles, in case anyone wanted to add some pizzazz to their concoctions.

Keith pouted, looking up from his crouch. “Is this really going to help us bond as a team, Hunk?”

“Hey. Baking combines problem solving, math, chemistry, and when you add friends to it, great teamwork with a sweet reward. Don’t diss the art, Keith.”

Keith’s eyebrows shot up. His gaze inched back towards his oven. Lance cocked his brow. “Yeah, but wouldn’t it be better if we each made the SAME batch, instead of us making them on our own?”

Hunk shrugged. “A little competition strives you to be your best.” A *ding* from his phone signaled the end of his timer. “Alright! Let’s get those puppies out of the oven.”

Each baker carefully grabbed their trays, bringing them up and setting them down on the table behind them, the aroma of vanilla, chocolate, and peanut butter wafting through the little hut. Hunk paced on the other side of the table, critically eyeing each tray, his nose slightly upturned. He lightly tapped Kosmo’s nose off the counter, the wolf sniffing and licking his lips at the trays. The mice scampered around the counter, stopping and sniffing at each tray.

Hunk looked down at Shiro’s tray, reaching out to grasp a cookie. He squinted at it, sniffed at it, broke it in half next to his ear, then finally, bit into it, chewing slowly. His eyes looked up in thought.

Everyone stayed silent. The only sound in the hut came from the fires cracking in the ovens and Hunk’s crunches. He swallowed.

“Hrmmm...Can definitely tell you held back on the brown sugar, and went a little overboard with the butter. But not a bad flavor. Good job Shiro.”

Shiro smiled, a little swell in his chest. Keith and Lance eyed him from the side. Shiro shrugged. “I lived alone going to school for years, plus had a boyfriend with a sweet tooth. I picked up s few skills.”

Hunk stepped in front of Keith’s station. He hunched down to look at the tray within eye level. Popping back up, he picked up a thick cookie and studied it, turning it over a few times in his hands. Rather bluntly, he tapped the cookie on the table, a loud *knock* echoing in the hut. Lance looked at Keith incedulously while Pidge snickered. Hunk took a bite...or tried to. His teeth hit the cookie, but didn’t even make it a quarter of the way through.

“ _Ow_ , okay, sorry teeth. Alright DEFINITELY too much flour. And they’re burnt. I can’t even lick it without tasting char. Sorry Keith.”

He moved on. Keith seethed, an invisible steam coming out of his skull. He crossed his arms and pouted. Lance swore he could hear mumblings of “when are we going to use baking in space…”

Lance righted as Hunk took up one of his cookies. Lance placed his arms behind his back, a little smug as he knew his would be fabulous. He did learn all his baking from his mom and grandma, and those were two ladies who lived in the kitchen. If anyone was going to impress the chef of the team, it was definitely going to be—

“Yeah sorry Lance. Underbaked.”

Lance squawked. “WHAT?! That’s not underbaked! That’s gooey deliciousness!”

“Yeah there’s a difference between that, and not cooked.” Hunk lifted up another cookie, the circle flopping and folding, until half of it fell and splattered on the tray. Lance looked at the poor excuse for a baked good, and sighed. Okay sure, it was Mom and grandma that had done all the baking. He just thought he learned some of their skills through sheer vicinity education.

Hunk finally stopped at Pidge. They glared at each other, neither one backing down. Without taking his eyes off her, he snatched a cookie, sniffed once, then inserted the entire thing into his mouth. He chewed four times, then swallowed with a gulp. He turned on his heel, pacing the table again. “Alright! I’ve made my decision. Honestly, I’m placing Lance and Keith both at the bottom, since I can’t tell if the underbaked or overbaked cookies were the worst out of the two.”

Hunk ignored the shouting protests from the two amateurs as he continued his critique. “Shiro, you gave me a very good tea biscuit, but it lacked that chew that you get from a cookie that deserves a glass of milk. Tasty, but not what I was looking for.”

Hunk theatrically shot out an arm. “Which makes Pidge my star baker and the winner!”

While Shiro smiled, Lance and Keith stared at her slack jawed. Lance couldn't figure how someone who was more interested in how the oven worked over what went inside could win.

“Lemme see that!” Lance trudged over to her station and placed a cookie in his mouth. Immediately his insides warmed. It was the gooeiness he’d strived for but failed to achieve. The cookie was buttery, but not overwhelming. It’s sweetness cried out for a glass of milk to compliment it. Even being out of the oven for a few minutes, it still radiated a bit of heat in Lance’s hands.

He saw her devilish smile and quickly swallowed. “What did you do? Put liquid quintessence into it?”

Hunk went behind her and patted her shoulder. “Nope, she just followed the recipe, including the part about adding a bit of love into it.”

Pidge shrugged. “Turns out that’s just adding a bit more brown sugar.”

Keith clutched his crossed arms tighter. “Okay, but how does baking get us closer to finding the Lions?”

Hunk pondered that for a tic. “Maybe they’ll come from the aroma of all this delicious quality friend time?”

Even Pidge and Shiro deadpanned at that. Hunk dropped his head in a sulk. “Fine, but at least now we have a snack. What’s your idea of bonding then?”

 

\--

 

Lance attempted to look two steps ahead but was about three steps back, another clash of Keith’s sword hitting his own.

They picked a large expanse of a cliff overlooking the sea. Keith paired off himself with Lance, and Shiro and Pidge in sparring duos, practicing their skills to get back in the rhythm of fighting.

Keith slashed at Lance again, his blade hitting Lance’s red broadsword. Each time they made contact, Lance let out a little yelp of shock. Keith hadn’t seen much of Lance’s action with a sword before, but he figured Lance would be better than what he was letting on. Keith pulled back.

“Come on Lance, keep light on your feet and your arms close. Too many wide swings and you leave yourself open.”

Lance huffed. “I know, KEITH. I’ve been around a sword before, you know.”

“Really? ‘Cause I’ve never really seen you use one.” Again, Keith looked at the blade. When Lance materialized it, he described it as an Altean broadsword. While that left a twinge of...fine, it was jealousy, Keith was also pretty impressed Lance had upgraded his bayard, adding another way Keith had seen Lance continue to grow.

“Yeah well, you didn’t see a lot of stuff...for awhile there.

….Ouch.

Keith lowered his head. He gripped his sword tighter. Lance perked when he saw Keith’s face get dark. “NO wait I just mean, we got stronger and stuff and you just missed on seeing it at the beginning. I mean you came back looking all buff and grizzly, so we’re even!”

Lance’s face was a mask of panic. Clearly, Keith could see, he was trying hard not to start anything, but Keith understood the sentiment. How he left the team and missed out on a lot. Keith breathed deep, remembering his fight with Lotor, and how he was going to change his life for the better.

He got into a ready position, angling his sword in front of him. “Well then, show me what I missed.”

Lance had a split second before Keith struck again. He brought up his blade to block, surprised by the sudden jump back into the action. Seriously, did this guy ever take a break? Keith backed off and struck again, Lance parrying each one.

Across the way, Shiro and Pidge engaged in their own dance.

Pidge squared up Shiro, her bayard crackling with electricity, as she noted each of Shiro’s slightest movements. How his left arm tensed as he raised it for a block, and how his right had a slight jitter to it when it moved far enough away from his body.

She dashed forward, keeping her body low to compensate for Shiro’s size. Shiro brought his left arm down for a chop, but Pidge dodged to the side and pivoted. She gripped his arm, then, using all her weight, utilized it as a swing and used her legs to sweep under him. Shiro fell flat on his back, and Pidge applied the momentum to launch herself up, jumping to a standing position. She turned to look back at her elder on the ground. Shiro grunted.

“Ugh...I see Matt’s keeping you in top form.”

“Well, he says he can’t always be there to protect me from ‘wandering eyes’ as he calls it. He says us Holts are a catch for anyone, but I don’t know what he’s getting at. Glad N7 told him to grow out that stupid haircut.”

Shiro propped himself up. “Yeah, well, he might be teaching you good moves, but he’s lacking in the diligence department.”

Pidge pursed her lips with a question. She felt a tap on her shoulder, then her body being raised up about five feet in the air. Her feet dangled and she waved her arms in panic.

“Wha-?! What?! How?!”

Pidge looked up behind her. Shiro’s mechanical arm held her up by the collar. She stopped thrashing, looking down at Shiro with distaste. “That’s playing dirty.”

Shiro stood. “Yes. It is. But it wins the fight. Save honor for a competition, not for your life.”

He lowered her down, her arms crossed the entire way. Shiro chuckled. It had been years since his team had done any kind of sparring together. On top of that, he couldn’t help but feel snug in his paladin armor. Coran and Pidge had done a fantastic job outfitting it to accommodate his new arm. He realized it was just nostalgia, but even getting to relive the better part of the old days was a nice diversion from all the craziness of their current circumstances. He squared his shoulders, ready to go again with Pidge.

Observing the two pairs do their spar-thing, Hunk munched on one of Pidge’s cookies a few meters away. His vision was split between watching the comical pair of Tall Shiro take on the Small Pidge, or the burning tension that was the duel of Lance and Keith. Kosmo sat next to him, puppy dog eyes locked on to the cookie.

Coran walked over to them and stood, face scrunching with curiosity. “Why aren’t you getting in on the action.”

“Eh, don’t want to make it two-on-one for anybody. Plus, I’m the tank of the group. My version of sparring is being stationary. So, I am practicing.” He popped another cookie in his mouth.

Coran wasn’t impressed. “You’re going to be a paladin again. You really should try for SOME kind of training.”

Hunk swallowed, pondering the thought. He looked up at Coran. “Wanna have a thumb war?”

Speaking of two of the doofuses, Keith pressed Lance back, Lance’s heels skidding on the ground. Lance struggled to stay upright, the force and weight of Keith’s assault making all of his muscles scream in agony. Keith looked like he barely broke a sweat, the jerk. But, at least the determination came back on his face. Lance really didn’t mean to bring up and bad vibes earlier, it just kinda...slipped out.

Keith pulled back for a swing, and Lance took the chance to spin and dodge to the left, finally getting an opening to strike. Keith parried easily, but Lance decided to just go crazy with it, hitting at Keith again and again, actually making him back up. Keith was great at strategizing, which Lance could see him try to do, watching Lance’s sword hit his own. Lance was more direct, opting for controlled madness that eventually worked in his favor. He pushed Keith more and more, attacks turning erratic.

Keith backed onto a rock, losing his footing. Lance’s heart skipped as he saw his opportunity, twisting his blade around Keith’s and pulling hard, slashing. Keith’s sword launched out of his hands twenty feet away, clanging as it hit the ground. Lance huffed out his exhaustion, smirking as he watched it change into a bayard, turning back to Keith.

“Hah...well...guess I’ve got more than—”

He brought his sword up instinctively, feeling the brush of air from a weapon slashing close to his face. Quiznak. He forgot about Keith’s luxite blade.

Keith pressed Lance hard, a steely look in his eyes, making Lance stare back engrossed. Not a great idea, since Keith then swept his legs out underneath him. Lance hit his back hard on the ground, a bit of air escaping his lungs. He opened his eyes, seeing the tip of the blade pointed in his face, Keith breathing hard.

Lance blinked. Sure he’d been demolished by Keith plenty of times before in their years of training together. But, had he always looked this...sculpted? Keith whipped his blade around as it shrunk back into a knife.

“Hah...not bad. But don’t let your guard down until your enemy’s on the ground.” He offered his hand. Lance eyed it.

“Didn’t expect you to go full fury on me when we’re just training.” He took Keith’s hand and allowed himself to be hauled up. Keith smirked.

“Isn’t that what we should train for? The worst?”

Lance shrugged. “Worse comes to worst, we make the Atlas blow everything up.”

Shiro and Pidge jogged over to them. Lance heard a distinct groan coming from Hunk, who sauntered over clutching his thumb, Kosmo trying to lick it. Coran walked beside him with a puffed chest.

“Well, hope you all had a good time,” Coran side glanced Hunk, rubbing it in, “but Keith’s turn is over.”

The collective and unnecessarily long sigh of relief from everyone was only slightly offensive to Keith. He crossed his arms, pouting.

Coran turned. “Looks like it’s your turn now, Lance.”

Lance scratched the back of his neck. The sudden attention made his face go red. “I uh...I don’t know. I didn’t really think about it.”

“Oh come on now,” Coran prompted, “there must be something that you’d like to do. Geared towards team cooperation and strengthening, of course.”

Lance brought his finger to his chin. He hadn’t done anything for himself in...quite some time. Now that he had to pick, nothing really came to mind. Nothing...except…

Lance snapped his fingers, a bright and eager smile concerning the group around him.

 

\--

 

“Ahh...and when you feel it start to tingle, then you know it’s working.” Lance patted his face with more green goo.

The Arusian spring and sauna was located to the west of the village, where the mountain streams met at a small pond. The King had his subjects stoke fires and prepare ointments and oils at Lance’s request, as he ran back to the Atlas to grab his extra masks and scrubs to give his friends the spa day they probably deserved after years of intergalactic war.

Lance lounged on a little Arusian chair, a robe wrapping his form and a towel wrapping his hair. His skin buzzed with delight after the bubble bath he just had, the heat still light on his skin. He looked over at his friends. Pidge had her feet in a little tub of bubbling water, an Arusian adding some salts to it. Shiro sat in a chair on the other side of the pond, his hair pushed back by a band and a blue mask on his face, casually flipping through a book. Hunk was criss-crossed on the ground, an Arusian masseur pounding his back. Hunk let out some jittery sighs of relaxation as the tiny hands hit up and down his back.

Keith...was leaning against a wall. Arms crossed. Fully dressed. Looking very uncomfortable. Lance pursed his lips and stood, trudging over to the begrudged rebel.

“Keith, we’re supposed to be relaxing. You look like your a pin drop away from a shootout.”

Keith’s mouth went thin. “How does relaxing help us prepare for an attack? Or find the lions?”

“Dude, the whole point of these activities is that we’re _bonding_ , doofus. Remember? Get our Team Voltron mojo back or whatever Coran said.” (Coran, in question, was sitting in a hot tub with a charcoal facemask and cucumbers on his eyes, thankfully, fully submerged in the water so no one was blinded) “You could at least try to calm yourself down. You must be as tense as a bridge cable.” Lance stuck out his palm. In it, a little tube of moisturizer. Keith eyed it, then shifted his gaze up at Lance, eyebrows askew.

Lance didn’t care if any of what they were doing seemed ridiculous or like a waste of time. He’d gotten the team to kick back and pamper themselves. Honestly, he’d like it if Keith would do the same, since the guy never really did anything for himself anyway. Keith came over on probably a bi-weekly basis to visit Lance back on Altea. He helped with chores, errands, heck Keith was the one who would scour through the Altean news pamphlets to find interesting events or activities for Lance or both of them to go see. Despite conversations about the Blades, missions, or other day to day occurrences, Lance didn’t think Keith ever took a minute to think about himself.

_Let’s see if we can change that._

Keith gingerly took the tube. He fidgeted with it in his hands, reading the label. He took off his gloves, shoving them in his pockets. He squeezed a tiny dot onto his hand, then rubbed the lotion in, covering his palms. He sniffed at them once he finished. “Why is it cinnamon?”

Lance whipped his hand, taking back the tube. “Why not?! I’ve got a nose for good scents, unlike some!”

Keith blinked, surprised at the sudden passion about bath products. The brush of air that came from Lance’s dramatic steal wafted over him. Keith sniffed. “You smell...different.”

Lance’s cheeks were baking under his face mask. He whipped his head around and pouted. “Yeah well, that happens when you have a bath and notice EVERYONE’S deodorant’s been replaced with Shower Clean. I think Slav might be on a quantum theory rampage.”

Keith’s cheek twitched, threatening to redden as well. “...It’s not a bad scent…” He immediately brought his gaze to the floor.

Lance looked at him curiously. He saw Keith wringing his hands, rubbing his now silky skin. His brow was creased with nervous tension. His cheeks were puffy, and eyes a teensy-weensy bit glossy.

Lance...felt bad. No seriously, it was a shock for him too. Everyone else was enjoying themselves (Hunk shouted ceremoniously, “OH, RIGHT there, YES that’s where I keep all the tension!”), but that didn’t mean his activity was enjoyable for EVERYONE. Lance frowned with a thought, another idea spurring in his mind. “Alright. Change of plans. This isn’t working.” He took off his head towel and wiped at his face. “I’m picking another paladin-bonding activity.”

Hunk perked up from his nirvana. “What?! But this is great! Plus who says you get two activities?”

Coran shot up from the hot tub. Pidge shielded her eyes, then whipped a hand to the poor Arusian tending to her; no one deserved seeing Coran in a skimpy speedo.

“It’s all fair Hunk. Lance still has some time left for his bonding exercises. If he wants to change, I’ll allow it.”

Pidge peeked through her fingers. “Since when were you the rule maker for this?”

Shiro walked over, wiping off his own mask. His hair glistened and skin glowed, fresh after a long-overdue rest and caught up on his reading. “So, what did you have in mind.”

Lance smirked, looking over his shoulder and back at Keith. Keith blanked, a question on his innocent face.

 

\--

 

The quarry spread out in a wide oval, grey cliffs and forest rising in the distance. To the back of them, cliffs cascaded down to the ocean.

The King ordered his subjects to quickly construct the makeshift shooting range, bringing in five large mounds of dirt to place against a cliff face. Each one was painted with a blue and red target, a purple bullseye marking the center.

Lance paced in front of his team about a hundred yards away from the targets, hands behind his back and nose upturned.

“Alright team. You get three shots to make a bullseye. Best score wins.”

Pidge raised her hand. “Weren’t you the one complaining about how we should be working together rather than competing?”

“Yeah well, maybe Hunk was on to something. A little friendly competition to help build each other up might do us some good.”

“THANK YOU Lance!” Hunk went for a hi-five, but Lance swerved from it.

“Oh don’t think I’m not on to you mister. I know half of your plan was to make five dozen batches of cookies instead of just one.”

Hunk pouted and teared up, discovered, as Lance turned to reveal his bayard from his armor. Swinging it around, he rested the red rifle on his shoulder. “While I know I’m probably going to be the best anyway, I’ll give you guys a good frame of reference.”

Lance squared his stance in front of his target. He brought his rifle down to eye level, looking towards his mark. Immediately his body responded; his breathing slowed, muscles relaxed and positioned. Lance took two slow breaths, closing one eye and locking on to the target. With one exhale, he pulled the trigger three times in succession. Three blue lasers shot out and landed on their mark in a split second, the end of the range smoking at the spot.

Lance lowered his weapon. Klaizap ran out to the range, inspecting the shot. He turned to the team, a smile on his face and making a circle in the air with his arms. A perfect shot.

Lance shut his eyes and turned to his team. The smug smile on his face both an indicator of Lance’s old personality shining through, but also an irritating reminder that Lance’s old, boisterous personality was shining through. Hey. He couldn’t help that three years of inactivity did nothing to diminish his innate marksman talent.

“Alrighty, who wants to try and get close to that?”

Hunk materialized his bayard, the large machine gun weighty in his hands. He raised the weapon up to his mark. He took a short time aiming, firing his three shots. Klaizap ran quick over to Hunk’s target, raising a single hand with two fingers, telling them he hit the bullseye twice. Hunk could see his third shot smoke close to the middle ring.

Lance patted his back. “Not bad man, not bad.”

Pidge squared her shoulders directly in front of her target. Her bayard shifted, forming into what looked like an energy crossbow, the bayard wrapping around her gauntlet. She tensed and recoiled her hand thrice, three darts shooting from the bow. Even from their distance, they could see the smoke from her shots rise closer to the edge of the target, albeit all in the same spot, just not on the bullseye.

“Ooh, nice try Pidge. Precise but not accurate.”

Pidge shrugged Lance off. “Don’t exactly practice my marksmanship that often with Matt. He’s more of a fists first guy.”

Lance smiled, turning to Shiro.

Shiro shifted his weight on his heels, rolling his shoulder. He widened his legs for support, facing his target. He brought up his metal arm, the energy inside making an audible buzzing noise. The team took a few steps back, Shiro’s arm glowing with an excess light. His brow was focused on the target, muscles twitching at the slight strain. In one swift movement, Shiro brought back his shoulder and shot his arm off like a rocket. Its recoil created a slight burst of light and a gust of air, brushing dirt on the ground back.

At the end of the range, his arm stuck into the mound, the end of it steaming. Klaizap ran to it, raising his arms in another circle, jumping up and down.

Shiro smiled, summoning his arm slowly back to his side, shaking off the dirt. Lance scrunched his lips. “Ok, not bad. Little showy. Plus you technically just punched it, but oh well.”

The whine of a laser powering up brought Lance’s attention to Keith.

Keith held his canon blaster, amazingly, upright in his arms. His stance was wide and powerful, positioning himself perpendicular from the target. His gaze rested sharp and determined on his mark. His chest rose and fell, calming himself.

Lance watched him in awe. He’d forgotten Keith’s bayard could change into a cannon. It was a fleeting memory in that abandoned ship. Granted, he was being chased by a giant quintessence monster at the time, so he couldn’t really focus on Keith’s upgrade. Looking at it now, Lance was impressed with how versatile it made Keith. For the entirety of their journey, Keith was always sword-boy. It kind of reminded Lance of when he summoned his own sword for the first time…

The whine from the cannon increased. Its light brightened at the lip. The cannon hummed and shook with energy. Keith’s shoulder rolled and his other hand steadied the cannon as he prepared for the recoil.

Lance’s amazement turned to shock and realization in about two and a half tics.

“Wait—no, Keith—!”

*BOOM*

A beam of light blasted out of the cannon. The force of it sent a small shockwave around the group, making them all rock on their heels. The beam traveled down the range and hit its mark. Well, more like incinerated it, as the mound disintegrated as the beam kept going, burning through the rock behind it, cracking it slightly. After five tics of chaos from the beam, Keith ceased it, and lowered the cannon.

Klaizap, who had ducked and covered for dear life, peeked his head out of his arms and stood up. He rushed over to the not-target and melting hole, inspecting it. He turned back to the group, shrugging.

Lance trudged over to Keith. “Ok, blowing a hole through the target doesn’t count.”

Keith cocked his brow. “Isn’t that what shooting is? Putting a hole in a target?”

Lance sputtered. “Ok well incinerating it doesn’t count either.”

Keith cocked a smile. “Why? ‘Cause I win?”

“No you do NOT win! In fact you’re at the bottom ‘cause we can’t even SEE what your score was ‘cause you destroyed the thing we used to track the score!”

Keith crossed his arms, that smug smirk on his lips turning into a soft frown, hips cocked to the side, a glint of grief in his eyes - and why was Lance noticing all of this in perfect detail?

“I thought you didn’t want me handing you wins? Now you just want to take ‘em?”

Lance raised his finger to speak, but the words died in his throat, blush starting to pepper his face. He was caught. While it wasn’t a super pleasant conversation, he recalled his rant about Keith letting him win at everything. And here Keith was, doing whatever he could to win (albeit cheating in Lance’s opinion).

Lance gulped and pouted. He knew Keith was probably jerking him, but he got the idea. Rather than cry about him not following along the way Lance wanted, he should be happy Keith went along with this little competition at all. In the end, he DID switch up his activity so Keith wouldn’t be pouty and he could actually enjoy something that wasn’t so—

….Wait. Back that up. Lance switched activities because the spa day was getting boring. That’s it. He didn’t change it for Keith. Of course not….right?

A big pat on his back jolted Lance out of his stupor. Hunk gave Lance an apologetic smile. “S’alright Lance. I mean I guess Keith technically got the most points since, well, he blew up the target. So he kinda gets all the points. Better luck next time.” Lance lowered his head and seethed. “So, whose turn is it next?”

Pidge tilted her glasses into place. “Pretty sure it’s Shiro’s.”

 

\--

 

_He dashed through the forest with the speed of a demon, quickly leaping to the nearest branch he could see. His feet were light as he jumped from tree to tree. The canopy kept him in the shadows, perfect to sneak through undetected._

_He caught a few flying weasel-bats in his wake. They scattered all around him, but he just stuck them all with his sword, energy filling him with each blow. Disposing of them, he continued his trek through the trees._

_He stopped, perched on a tall oak, and looked down. The jewel sat in a small clearing. A red and brilliant ruby glinted in the sunlight. Was it too easy? Nah, it’d be fine. But just in case, he gripped his sword, preparing for an ambush._

_He hopped down, his tunic flopping behind him as he hit the ground. Standing, he surveyed the clearing. No one to his left or right. No one behind. Everything looked good._

_He bent over, gingerly picking up the jewel. It sparkled as he turned it in his hands. Pretty. Tossing it once in victory, he turned on his heel—_

_The snap of a rope widened his eyes. Underneath him, a net sprung and enveloped him, carrying him ten feet in the air, bouncing. He shook his head, gaining back his vision. The jewel was still in his hand, but its glow turned sinister, the bright red turning bloody in his grasp. The forest around him darkened. The trees whistled with a cold breeze. Storm clouds blotted out the sun._

_“Come on, you’ve gotta be kidding me!”_

_He tried to wriggle his way out with no luck. Wait. His sword! He looked around the net for it and….he saw it. On the ground._

_“Rrgh...How is this fair?!”_

“Hup, sorry _Thunderstorm Darkness_. Not only did you roll a two for your success, you also forgot to add your look-for-traps card that could’ve gotten you out of this bind. Tough luck.”

Keith crossed his arms with a pout. They sat at an Atlas wreck room table, the Monsters and Mana board splayed out in front of them. Keith could see his character in the trap. A little barbarian figure with a wool-lined indigo tunic, his hair pulled back into a ponytail. His face was painted with purple gashes and red stripes on his cheeks. To the left, he saw a band of heroes clumped all together. His friends’ characters stood outside the forest in a sunny field of wildflowers.

_“Told ya you should’ve just ignored it. Typical, just rushing into things without thinking.” Lance crossed his arms. He’d picked a ranger this time around, a bow at his back and a short sword at his hip. His armor gleamed with blue jewels against a copper body. A belt with bags of magic dust hung around his waist._

_The rest of the team stared back at the forest as well. Pidge, a Druid, her gold lined emerald coat hiding about thirty wands and a poison dagger, raised her brow. “And we were letting this guy lead us before?”_

_“Aww Pidge, it’s just to let him catch up. He’s never played before. Besides,” Hunk brought out his lute, his golden robes fluttering as he began to strum, “‘Alas our poor band has become tired and worn, all thanks to the direction of our dear Thunderstorm.’”_

_“That didn’t rhyme.” Lance protested._

_“No it’s a slant rhyme. It’s close enough.”_

_“Team, lets not dally, we must press on if we wish to slay the ogre.” Shiro raised his blade, his paladin armor shining in the light, his cape whipping behind him like a banner of hope. He turned to continue on, the rest begrudgingly following behind._

_“Hey! What about me?”_

_They all turned, looking back at the forest realizing they all actually forgot about Keith. Keith, was of course, not impressed._

_“Rrgh…Coran, what do i need to do to get out of here?”_

Coran flipped the pages in his tome, flicking his finger on the one he needed. “Sorry Keith, you’re trapped in the Forest of Despair. The eternal prison of the darkest demons alive. They steal helpless travelers and never let go. Only way out is by one of your teammates drawing a ‘get out of forest free’ card from the specialty deck, but that’s near impossible, since there’s only one. Since, well, no one’s dumb enough to chance the forest in the first place.”

_Keith’s eye twitched. “So I’m just stuck here until the end of the game?”_

“Well, not exactly. The gem you uncovered was a decoy as well. Turns out it’s a Reaper Ruby. Each time a teammate takes a turn, you lose ten hit points.”

Keith’s temple bulged, the rules of the game packing in his head  uncomfortably. He didn’t say it aloud, but he kind of like the idea of an adventure game. Just messing around and fighting fictional monsters with no consequences. Unfortunately, he didn’t account Coran’s passion for making things extremely difficult.

“So I’m stuck AND dying.”

“Right,” Coran flipped a page, “however there is ONE way for you to get out.”

Keith perked his ears. The rest of the team leaned in to listen.

“Looks like one member of your team can save you, but they have sacrifice all of their magic points for you to get out. Plus, it’ll be a permanent stat change until the end of the game.”

_Keith looked out over to his friends. They all stared back, faces blank. Keith’s eyes filled with pride and determination. Of course one of his teammates would come to his rescue—_

_The entire party turned on their heels and started walking in the other direction. Keith’s face went slack._

_“Are you kidding me?! None of you?!”_

_Pidge shrugged. “Sorry Keith, we’re taking on a boss next and we need our stats.”_

Keith shook slightly,then stood up quickly from his seat. “Fine. I lose then. Have fun storming the castle. I’m gonna go take a nap.”

He got three steps in—

“Well if you’re just gonna give up, I’ll do it then.”

Keith turned.

Lance was looking at him with stern disappointment. His brow was hard and raised his eye as if to ask, _really_? He shut his eyes and his mouth went thin. “I’ll give my MP for the dork to stay in the game, mainly cause it’d take forever for him to pick another character.”

Keith took a curious step forward, feeling Lance wasn’t quite through.

“That, and, well… we’re supposed to be bonding right? Can’t do that if we’re a teammate short.” He looked up, puppy dog eyes and a quirky smile popped on his face.

Keith took two steps, sat down, and, internally, melted.

“Th...thanks Lance. That’s...cool of you.”

Pidge and Hunk shifted noticeably, nudging each other expressively with their elbows, both with devilish smiles plastered ear to ear. Lance squinted at them, wondering what the heck they were fighting over, cause it didn’t seem like they were doing anything else.

_Lance raised his blade, concentrating. Blue energy swirled around him. A circle of runes appeared at his feet. For an instant, the sky grew dark, and then a flash later, Keith stood directly in front of him. The runes below dissipated, the light from Lance flowing into Keith and making him glow. He took a deep breath, exhaling, like he woke up from a long and refreshing nap. A little icon appeared in front of him. A gauge filled, a *ding* signaling full health restored._

_Keith smiled at Lance, appreciation beaming in his eyes. Lance felt his face color a tad. He’d meant it when he said they needed to all be together for these bonding exercises to work. What he wouldn’t say out loud, was that he was a tiny bit excited that Keith was finally playing with them too, having missed out on his chances before due to his involvement with the Blade of Marmora. Sure it was just a silly game, but watching Keith enjoy it along with everyone else—_

_“See, what did I tell you? Perfect for team building, strategizing, puzzle-solving. This game is s great way for us to—“_

_“Seriously Shiro! Stop making the game about learning!” Lance cut Shiro off before he could go into a speech about the importance of friendship. Shiro raised his brows in surprise, pouting as his rally for teamwork was silenced._

_They spent the next hour fighting against goblins in a quarry, Hunk serenading some sirens who were enchanting his friends, Pidge casting spells to ward off a powerful witch, Shiro (not dying after plenty of practice sessions months prior), valiantly fending off a horde of undead soldiers._

_And then there was Lance and Keith, taking on the ogre of the castle, slashing and dodging and keeping minions off of each other. They were a whirlwind of blades, slicing and dicing while checking over their shoulders to see if the other was okay. Keith would roll over Lance’s back while Lance would use Keith’s as a springboard, leaping and delivering a final blow to the beast. The ogre toppled and slammed to the ground, dissolving into dust. A fanfare of 16-bit trumpets celebrated their victory, as an orange-mustachioed servant popped out from behind the throne of the ballroom._

_“Thank you heroes! You’ve slayed the beast! However, your treasure is actually in another castle, a day’s journey from here.”_

_While Shiro’s eyes lit up (because, yay! More quest!), everyone else deadpanned, frowning at Coran after being put through obstacle after obstacle._

Hunk stretched, flopping his arms on the back of the couch behind Lance and Keith. “While this is all fun and stuff, anyone feeling any more bonded or sensing any giant robot lions?”

They all hung their heads down, a silent “No” passing around the room.

Shiro raised his head. “Well, Pidge hasn’t had an opportunity yet. Maybe her activity will be what we need.”

Pidge proudly crossed her arms. “And I’ve got a great idea too.”

 

\--

 

They sat in a circle on the training deck of the Atlas. Pidge walked around them, handing each a thin silver headset that looked like one of those scalp head scratchers, just with three prongs instead of a bunch of tines. Blue lights glowed on each of the prongs.

Hunk flipped his in his hands. “Mind melding?”

Pidge sat crisscrossed, placing hers on her head. “Yup. Coran helped me develop new mind devices, mainly to help trainee pilots at the Garrison adapt to each other and work better together on missions. They actually create projections of your thoughts themselves, unlike when we needed the projectors on the Castle of Lions. I was thinking we could go back to square one, and focus on our bonds to the Lions directly. Maybe we can connect with them if we’re all in the same page.”

Shiro placed his device on his head. “That’s not a bad idea Pidge. Being in sync mentally is what helped us - uh -you all, become better paladins.”

Keith caught a quick glimpse of Shiro’s face twitching. For a second, he looked disappointed, his brow creased and eyes glossy. But then shot back to his winning and confident smile, waiting on Pidge to continue. Keith let his gaze rest on his brother for a second more, before turning to put his own device on. He tried to be clear before; despite Shiro not piloting a Lion with them after becoming Captain of the Atlas (well, none of them were pilots now anyway), he was still a part of the team, and Keith hoped Shiro could see that.

With everyone wearing a mind device and in place, Coran stood off to the side of them, coaching them through their meditation.

“Alright, try to relax. Just like before, we’re trying to focus on the Lions alone. Any other thoughts, get them out of the way for the moment. Clear your minds, and think about your connection.”

Keith shut his eyes. Plenty of thoughts crossed his mind. The past few days of craziness and fighting he hadn’t expected. His mom and the other Blades. His friends. A small farm on Altea—

Keith quickly skipped over that part, hoping no one else saw, but he found it. His memory of the Lions. He remembered his first time finding and connecting with Red, how he had to earn the Lion’s respect before he could fly. He thought about all the times Red saved his life. How happy he felt every time he saw the giant cat fly towards him. Then his memories shifted. He thought about the first time he piloted the Black Lion to save Shiro; how they both felt the same desire to save him. He saw images of piloting the Black Lion as leader of Voltron. He could see the time he had to rush to his team, how he and the Lion bonded so closely, and how Keith was able to summon its wings to rush to their sides.

Keith slowly opened his eyes. In front of him, he saw five multicolored lights flying in a circle. Looking towards Pidge, he saw projections of the Garrison and her family, before they blinked out, and the green light materialized into the Green Lion.

Over at Hunk, an image of Shay in the kitchen cooking blinked out, and Yellow took its place in the circle.

Keith looked over at Shiro, calm and still as a statue. A few images popped in front of him. The Atlas in full form. A picture of all of them after their first yearly get-together on Altea. Then a picture of Curtis, his face mid-bite into a large burger. Keith could feel the happiness behind the image, before it popped out of existence. Then Shiro’s thoughts turned...doubtful. His face twitched, like he was thinking about something unfortunate. No other pictures projected, but Keith could feel Shiro’s hesitation if he concentrated hard enough.

Keith looked up to the circling lights. The Yellow and Green Lions were crystal clear, but the Red, Black. and Blue Lions flickered and fizzled with static. Keith was certain he was focused on his connection with his Lion...er...Lions? Personally, he could feel his emotions slightly torn between the two. But he was still concentrating on his connection in general, which made him wonder why both were having trouble materializing.

Keith looked across the room.

Lance’s face was contorted with concentration. His nose was scrunched tight and brow so tense it could send an arrow flying. Keith’s eyes were good enough to see tiny beads of sweat at Lance’s hairline. A projection fizzed in and out in front of him, like someone fighting over a channel on TV. Between the pops, Keith could see figures, until he caught a glimpse of the image in full.

It was the picture of Lance and Allura, and their night under the tree.

Keith looked down, his eyes faltering for a second. He looked up to the rest of the group, Pidge and Hunk already eyeing each other, faces clearly conveying they weren’t sure what to do. Keith’s eyes went back to Lance, attempting to offer any feelings of encouragement or support, only to be met with thoughts of failure, anger, and grief.

Shiro opened his eyes, filled with concern, and tried reaching out. “Lance…”

Lance gruffed and shot up, tossing his mind device on the ground. Everyone’s images disappeared, the Lions popping out of view. The only sound they heard came from the clattering of the device and the A/C gently blowing. Lance panted for a tic, then swallowed his outburst with a gulp.

“This is pointless.  Even if we’re focused on the Lions, we’re nowhere nearer to finding them. We’re not paladins anymore. Who’s to say we won’t find them ‘cause we can’t?!”

Shiro’s eyes fixated on Lance, trying to get their gazes to meet. “That’s why we're trying everything Lance. If there’s something we can do to connect with them, then we can—“

“Well, that’s kind of hard when we’re a paladin short.”

…Even the A/C seemed to get quieter. Pidge and Hunk turned away. Coran looked upwards, scratching the back of his neck. Keith looked down in his lap. Shiro tried to keep his eyes on Lance, but the amount of hurt and frustration on his face was too much. Shiro let his head fall first, then set his view on Lance’s feet.

Keith took a deep breath, readying himself to brave some of the bad. “Lance, we may not have Allura, but we’ve got to push on if we’re going to—“

“Going to do what?! Like we can actually stop those freaks?! Let’s face it. We’re not paladins anymore! We’re not Voltron anymore! The Lions are gone for good and we’re never gonna get them back no matter how hard we try because we aren’t a team anymore!”

He turned, stomping out of the training room, the doors shutting behind him.

Pidge and Hunk looked to one another, both at a loss for words. Coran fiddled with his fingers, having no proper way to diffuse the situation delicately. Keith’s sad eyes sat in his lap. Anything he thought of to try and help died in his mind, each option working out worst than the last.

Shiro’s vision rested on the door.

 

\--

 

Lance buried his face in his pillow. His body splayed out on his bed. His stomach hurt.  He felt awful. He just blew up at his friends for nothing but his own feelings and shortcomings. They were trying so hard and he was the one screwing it up for all of them. Not like that was anything new. Lance already went into this whole team-building scheme realizing it wouldn’t work. They weren’t a team. At least, not a team Lance was part of. He’d detached himself so far from his friends that he’d even made excuses not to visit them when they’d come to Altea. Well, except Keith, but that was him seeking Lance out, and Lance has no control over what that dork did anyway.

Lance turned his head. His thoughts washed in his head on a heavy duty cycle. Not only did they have to find the Lions, he somehow had to use his powers to locate the comet and Malteans an entire reality over. To top it off, they also had to STOP these jerks from causing any more damage to the multiverse. Allura said she believed in him. That just made his heart twist more.

A knock at the door shook him, but he turned to face the wall, groaning.

“Go away Hunk. I’m not in the mood for a cookie convo right now, believe it or not.”

The door protested, opening with a *swish*, and a very different voice echoed from the threshold.

“I wouldn’t let Hunk hear you say that. I’ve been on the receiving end of those conversations myself, and they’re pretty constructive.”

Lance popped up and twisted. Shiro took a step into his room, the light from the ceiling making his silver hair glint like starlight. He smiled at Lance with an affectionate sympathy, like, well, a dad happy to see his son, but that thought kinda weirded Lance out so he switched it to big brother.

“Oh. Hey, Shiro. You need something?”

“Just coming up to check on you. You did kind of run off there.”

Lance swung his legs to sit on the side of the bed. He sighed, head hanging down low. “Yeah, I know.”

The silence was only a little awkward for about four seconds.

“Can I sit?”

Lance shrugged and scooted over, giving Shiro enough room to settle next to him. Shiro leaned his elbows on his knees, hands cupped together. Lance’s mood may have dictated his more, nonchalant posture, but inside, he was freaking because, uh, SHIRO was alone with him in his room because SHIRO came looking for him. Lance gulped, nervous because he had no idea what Shiro was going to say.

He didn’t have to wait long.

“Lance, I know this hasn’t been easy. But, I hope you know we’re all here for you. We’ve always been, if there’s anything you need.”

Lance nodded his head with a jerk. “I know.”

…

Lance figured Shiro was waiting for something more confessing, but his mind was a game of pick up sticks he’d rather leave on the ground, rather than try to find that one twig that was giving him a stinging splinter...

Shiro took a quick breath, preparing himself. “You know, I know exactly how you feel...this whole experience has brought up some...unpleasant memories. And losing someone, and living with that loss, it hurts. I get it. But like I said, we’re all here for you to talk about it, if you need to.”

...and Shiro found the splinter.

Lance gripped the sides of his bed, trying hard not to show his shaking. He pinched his lips tight, keeping them from twisting into sobs. The air around him felt stale and cold and he couldn’t breathe.

Shiro stirred. “Lance?”

And he gasped.

Lance stood with such force it shook the bed. Shiro's brow shot up to his forehead.

“I get it, okay?! I get that I’m the one keeping everyone back! That everyone else can move on and focus about what’s important! I’ve been the one wallowing and can’t concentrate and it’s all my fault that we’re not connecting!”

“Lance you’re not—“

“But that’s just how Lance is, isn’t he? Lance is the screw up, goof ball that can’t do anything right!” His eyes stung. His vision turned watery. “Lance just...just messes everything up. So bad that his own girlfriend just...just dies right in front of him and—and he can’t do anything about it.”

…

…

Shiro...Shiro was stunned.

“Lance...all this time...have you...blamed yourself...for Allura’s sacrifice?”

Lance blinked. Tears fell down his cheeks. He’d never put it into words before. But Shiro hammered that nail on the head hard enough that it split the board.

“I, uh...yeah, I guess that’s part of it.”

Shiro was still reeling, trying to process what three years of a depressed Lance was actually about. “But, Lance...how could you think that?”

Lance sat down hard, hands hiding his face. “Well, I mean. I rushed her into a relationship when we knew we were heading into a war. I knew that quintessence-rift creature was bad but, instead of explaining myself I—I pushed her and complained. I tried to distract her from the mission and—and when it came down to it...I couldn’t do anything to save her. I couldn’t...I couldn’t even offer take her place.”

Shiro’s protective instincts kicked in, tensing like he did when an enemy attacked one of his friends. Except, this enemy wasn’t physical.

“And so...is that why you shut us out? So we wouldn’t see how you were really feeling?”

Lance paused, then nodded hesitantly. “You guys all moved on and made lives for yourselves. You didn’t have to worry about me or my problems.”

 _Keith worried_ , Shiro thought. But he wasn’t going to bring any of that up now. This was a different conversation, and one that was LONG overdue.

“So...the farm. Avoiding us. Keeping to yourself...you didn’t feel happy enough to do, anything?”

Lance wiped his eyes. His nose was stuffy and started to run. His head ached. But he kept going. “Just...she never got the chance at a normal life, y’know? Why...why should I get a happy end when she’d never see one?”

“Lance, NONE of what happened was your fault. I know you would have, ANY of us, would have done everything we could to keep Allura. But...I know she wouldn’t have wanted you to sacrifice your happiness for hers.”

Lance stayed quiet. A sniffle escaped occasionally. He heard Shiro, he really did. But...after so long thinking it, he didn’t understand how he could deserve to move on. Moving on meant having to admit he could be happy after losing someone so important. Moving on meant...letting her go.

Shiro shut his eyes, thinking, then took a deep breath. “I...I know you feel like you’re to blame. Believe me Lance, I can’t begin to tell you how much I understand.”

That...confused Lance. He looked over to Shiro. His eyes may have been closed, but Lance could see he was concentrating on a scene, a memory.

“I’d always thought...going to Kerberos was the best thing for me...given...given that I was sick, and might not ever get another chance. And...Adam...was only worried about me, I know. But I didn’t want to let my life's dreams slip away.”

Lance waited on bated breath. He’d only caught quick remarks over the years about Shiro's muscular disease. That, and the fact that Shiro was talking to LANCE of all people, about his past relationship, fiancée even; Adam. Lance felt like an outsider, finally privy to information he was sure only super close people to Shiro (like, well, Keith), would ever get to hear.

Shiro opened his eyes and Lance tensed, but he kept them focused straight in front of him.

“When I found out, after we got back to Earth, that he’d...that he risked everything...I wanted to blame myself. I thought...maybe...if I wasn’t so stubborn. If I’d decided to stay, and start a calmer, simpler life...things might have been different. If I had just stayed and been the quiet soldier...maybe he might still be here.”

Lance couldn’t speak. It was like one of those hologram pictures that shifts when you move it. This was...a side of Shiro he’d never seen before. Vulnerable. Brutally honest. And most of all.

He sounded exactly like how Lance felt.

Lance cast his eyes back on the ground. Here Shiro was trying to EMPATHIZE with him, but Lance was still stuck. If he tried to comfort Shiro, it would just sound like he regurgitated everything Lance just got, which would of course sound stupid. Plus this was SHIRO. The rock of the team. How the heck was he supposed to console their mentor and guide when Lance couldn’t even help himself?

Shiro leaned back on his hands. “You know, Curtis and I have talked about getting married.”

. . . Well that was a one-eighty in this conversation.

Despite trying to keep his cool,  Lance felt the blush warm his face. He started to answer, sputtering, but Shiro continued.

“He’d asked me, not to marry him exactly, yet, but what I thought about it, and I couldn’t give him an answer right away. Alone, all I could think about...was how it felt like I was...robbing Adam, of what we could have had. And...I felt horrible. I didn’t think I was worthy to just...start that life, that he asked me to have with him...that I gave up the first time around.”

Lance was fixed on Shiro. He didn’t dare move, for fear that he, or Shiro, might shatter into thousands of emotional sobbing pieces.

“But…”

But?

“...after spending more time with Curtis. Traveling to other planets. Just...being around someone. Sharing myself with someone. Feeling myself BE happy… I started to think about it in a different way. Like...maybe this was Adam telling me, it’s okay to be happy. That...he WANTS me to be happy, because that’s all we wanted in the first place.”

He turned, offering Lance the most caring and genuine smile he’d ever seen. His eyes looked right at Lance’s, the grey turning into the sky that cleared after a thunderstorm. Lance’s heart swelled a half size. He’d...he’d never been this close to Shiro. Heard this much about him. And his mind went back to what Allura told him on Oriande.

_You’re not alone._

Lance broke. He choked out a sob and dove into Shiro's arms, feeling them wrap around him, his hands immediately going to his back, making soothing, small circles. He’d cried plenty of time before. He’d shed tears picking juniberries. He sobbed himself to sleep most nights. But crying now...was a release. It was three years of pent up grief and guilt that he’d hidden from everyone, all gushing out of him as waterfalls.

Lance hiccuped as he sobbed. “I...I-I miss her.”

Shiro moved his arm to caress Lance’s head. “I know bud, we all do. And that’s why we’re all there for you. So we don’t have to forget her. Even when it hurts.”

Lance sniffed, pulling away from Shiro and rubbing his eyes on his sleeves. Shiro kept a hand on his shoulder, steady and supporting, making sure Lance didn’t fall.

“I...I just don’t know if I can do it. If I can do what Allura wants. If I can live up to what she thinks of me. I’m not the hero I used to be. And I’m no alchemist or anything like she was.”

Shiro squeezed his shoulder. “You know, you remind me of someone. Another person who’s had impossible tasks stacked against him, and responsibilities put on his shoulders that he felt were crushing. Someone who thought taking the back seat was a better option than being the driver. And someone who I know has taken all of those obstacles, and came out fine on the other side. Mostly.”

Lance pouted, hearing the playful tone come back into Shiro's voice, lightening the mood, and admittedly, his spirits. “Lemme guess, this is the part where you tell me I remind you of yourself, and you go into another anecdote about how we’re so alike.”

Shiro cocked a crooked smile. “While I’m flattered you see yourself in me Lance, since I see it too, that’s not who I mean.”

Lance jerked his head back. “Then, who—“

Shiro patted his shoulder, then stood and walked over to the door. He turned, beaming at Lance. “Whenever you’re ready, we’re here for you. For whatever help you might need. Although, I know one person will probably maul us all to be first in line.”

Lance blinked as Shiro turned to leave. A thought shocked his brain. “Shiro!”

He turned, a question on his face. Lance answered it.

“I...I’m sorry, about what I said earlier. You’ve always been a part of Voltron. No matter what. I was just...feeling down.”

Shiro blinked, then smiled, sympathy pulling at the corners of his mouth. “There’s nothing to apologize for. But...thank you.” He exited, the door rushing closed behind him.

Lance sat on the bed, processing everything he’d just heard. Shiro and him were more alike than he thought. He thought about what Shiro said about being happy, and wondered, since Allura was a cosmic deity now, if she’d dropped any hints to Lance over the years for him to be happier. He couldn’t really think of any. He liked the farm, but again, he only started it to preserve her memory. While Altea was beautiful, he would get homesick and miss some of Earth’s luxuries, like his mom’s garlic knots. He liked going for rides on his bike, when he actually got it out of the garage, but Keith gave him the bike so that couldn’t be a sign.

His mind then drifted to the task at hand; finding the Malteans and their comet. Which also meant finding the Lions. Which, they were still no closer to finding. Lance still took some blame for that. His entire negative and depressing attitude didn’t help try to boost morale. But still, they’d tried tons of different ways to bond with one another and connect with their Lions, and NOTHING worked. It’s not like they weren’t friends anymore. So why was it so hard to be a team again—

Lance’s eyes peeled wide. A lightning bolt epiphany struck his brain. He took a deep gruff of a breath in and stood, walking out of his room, a purpose, finally, in his step.

 

\--

 

Pidge twisted her spaghetti on her fork, lazily thinking about taking a bite, but just not feeling in the mood for it.

She, Hunk, and Keith sat at table in the cafeteria, attempting to eat dinner, despite no rumbling tummies. Kosmo napped at Keith’s feet, Hunk reaching over to pass him a meatball occasionally and as discreetly as possible (Keith had scolded Hunk for giving Kosmo people food and spoiling him time and again). The mice nibbled at the few noodles Pidge gave them, sauce splashing on their whiskers.

Pidge set her fork down. Her head slumped and chin hit the table. “Can’t believe I’m saying it, but, Lance is right. We really aren’t Voltron anymore, are we?”

Hunk hung his head, Kosmo tickling his finger licking the marinara sauce off of them. “We could try something else? Something more intense and strenuous to get our mojo back… We could make _pain au chocolats_?”

Pidge quirked her brow. “Don’t those take like two days to make?”

“Yes, and they’re pastry dough, which means the hardest and best way to bring us together over the mutual stress of baking those monstrosities. But with sweet results.”

Coran, who was eyeing his spaghetti suspiciously, halted his study of Earth food to engage in another one. “Well, at least its aptly named. Any food that has ‘pain’ in it will surely be a task that will bring you closer together.”

...Pidge gave her slowest clap, knowing for a fact Coran had no idea what the French language was, and that he just beat Hunk’s “Malteans” pun with how fitting his was.

Keith glanced up at Hunk. “We don’t have time Hunk. We’ve got to find the Lions and Malteans as soon as possible.”

“I know, but how are we going to DO that if we’re still not back to ‘team material’?”

The door swishing open brought their attention behind them. Shiro walked into the cafeteria. Keith caught on to the pink tint in his eyes, the damp marks on his uniform. Keith’s mind went straight to on-guard mode, preparing to sprint out the door if he needed to.

“How did it go? Is…is he going to be okay?” He approached.

Shiro huffed a quick sigh. “I think so. I hope so. At least, I think we had a constructive conversation,” Shiro caught Keith’s eager face, waiting to hear more, “I think I’ll keep the specifics between us. But...he let out a lot. In a good way.”

Shiro sat down next to Keith, who looked at him longingly, wishing he could know more. Whatever they talked about that could shake Shiro up…Keith was unsure if he even wanted to see what Lance’s aftermath looked like.

Pidge raised her head from the table. “Guess we gotta find a new way to look for the Lions. We could contact United Galaxy members and see if they’ve heard anything?”

“That could take days to do. And there’s no way of telling when the Malteans will strike again,” Shiro countered gently, “unfortunately we’re at a standstill with no time to be in one.”

Another swish of the door brought their attention to their backs again. Lance bounded in, stopping to rest his fists on his hips, a suspicious frown on his face. Everyone stopped, holding their breath.

“Guys. Listen up.” Lance ordered.

They all leaned in, waiting….and waiting...and….waiting.

“...Uhh, Lance?” Hunk whispered. “You gonna—”

“Wait.” Pidge interrupted. “You hear that?”

A quiet whine sounded in the cafeteria, growing in volume.

Keith cocked an ear. “I hear it too.”

Hunk squinted. “Lance are you using some kind of Altean sound powers ‘cause I’m not getting what—“

At that moment, simultaneously, five pairs of eyes went wide, as well as five pairs of nostrils. Not a millisecond after, five pairs of hands shot to their faces, attempting to save their burning noses.

“Lance! That’s disgusting!” Pidge scolded.

“Come on dude!” Hunk whined.

Keith grimaced. “Are you KIDDING me?!”

Shiro gagged, trying to keep his cookies down. Coran tried wafting the air around him, but they were weak attempts to dissipate the cloud of stink enveloping the group.

Lance, the jerk, puffed his chest proudly, an impish smirk on his face. “Now that I’ve got your attention, I’m here to tell you guys how we’re doing everything wrong.”

After the initial shock of the flatulence, everyone in the room had their eyes back on Lance, waiting for what he had to say (Pidge hoping he wasn’t prepping to rip another one).

“I’ve been thinking. A crazy venture, I know. But I’ve realized why we haven’t been able to connect like we used to.”

He paused, letting the dramatic tension rise. His teammates weren’t having it, waiting impatiently for him to continue.

“We’re already friends. We may have been a little disconnected over the years, I know I have definitely, but no matter what, we’ve already had a close bond that’s kept us together through thick and thin.”

Everyone nodded in agreement. A feeling of camaraderie passed between them.

“But that’s not how we became paladins.”

...Five frowns made their way to Lance’s eyes.

“When we first met, we had no idea what any of this alien robot stuff was. We were all so unorganized and COMPLETELY disconnected and, to be honest, we each had our own agenda at the beginning. Hunk!”

Lance pointed to his friend, who proceeded to bounce in his seat, surprised.

“Why did you end up agreeing to come on the Blue Lion and stick around on team Voltron?”

Hunk blanked. In his mind he went back years, thinking on how different he was. Scared, more indigestion issues, pessimistic. He almost couldn’t recognize his own memories. Then, he thought about the change, when he made the conscious decision to stick with the team.

“I...I guess it was really, honestly, to go home. But like, to go home knowing we wouldn’t be attacked by evil aliens. So, I stuck it out to make sure home would be safe, when we eventually did go back.”

Lance smiled, proud of the truth in Hunk’s voice. His finger swung to the side. “Pidge, why did you come?”

“I came, because I figured it was the closest option I was going to get to find my family. I wanted answers, and going in the Blue Lion was going to get them for me.”

Lance nodded, and shifted his gaze and finger across the table. “Shiro?”

“I wanted to be positive nothing that happened to me would ever happen to anyone again. If I could save even one other planet from domination, I would.”

Lance beamed at Shiro’s resolve. Happy to hear no hesitation in his voice. Lance’s finger finally landed on its last mark.

“And Keith! Keith…,” and the finger faltered, hand slowly falling, “ahh, to be honest I have no idea why you stuck around. What, were you bored?”

While Keith’s insides were ecstatic that Lance had some of his old cockiness back, he couldn’t help but twitch at the utter cluelessness he was witnessing. But he composed himself, really thinking about his answer. “I guess I came along, because I wanted to follow Shiro, and make sure he would be okay. I...we lost him once, and I wasn’t going to let him get lost again.”

Shiro smiled at him, Keith returning it. Lance had to admit, it was a cute relationship they had. Old memories of seeing the two pal around the halls of the Garrison came to his mind. While his opinion of Keith was a bit different back then, he couldn’t deny their brotherly bond.

He shook the thought, realizing he was going somewhere with this. “Right, and in the end, I flew the Blue Lion because, well, it was the coolest thing to ever happen in my life. And...I thought...it was my chance to show everyone what I was made of, and what I could do.”

Lance shut his eyes, feeling his friends’ concerned looks warming his skin. He could sense them wanting to tell him he HAD proven himself. That filled his tummy with honey.

He opened his eyes, looking out to all of them. “Sure, they may have been selfish reasons in some regard, but they were all drives. All of them represented what made us each paladins. It’s what...it’s what Allura saw, when she recognized the traits in each of us.”

The room froze, everyone tense and impressed Lance name-dropped Allura. Also impressed with how commanding he sounded. Shiro waited for more, pride swelling inside as he watched Lance’s confidence come out.

“THAT’S how we bonded with our Lions. Each individually. Each reaching out and sharing our drives with them. And that resonated together, the drives coming into one so we could form Voltron. So, how are you connecting with them now? Hunk!”

The finger pointed back again at Hunk. Instead of flinching this time, Hunk sat still with a determined grin pulling his cheeks. Lance smiled in return.

“Why are you coming along on this crazy ride?”

Hunk huffed a proud breath. “I want to make sure my home stays safe again. I want the peace we won to stay preserved. Plus, I want my kitchen to be right where I left it.”

“Right. Pidge, what do you want?”

Pidge crossed her arms, a smirk titled her glasses. “I want to figure out what the Malteans are doing to travel through realities, and what they’re doing with the comets. Then, I want to turn that tech against them so they can’t use it on us ever again.”

“Gotcha,” Lance turned his finger, “Shiro?”

“I’m protecting everyone who’s ever wanted peace. I want to keep our allies safe, and continue to spread our message of camaraderie. If someone is threatening that, I want them stopped.”

Lance nodded in agreement. His gaze shifted to the right.

Keith looked right at him, dead in the eyes. His brow was confident and unwavering. Lance’s breath hitched for a second, almost unsettled by the look.

“I’m protecting what’s important to me.”

...Well, Lance was expecting a straightforward answer from Keith. Just not one that short.

He shook it off for the moment. “And me. Well...I want to make up for all the times I sat back and watched. This time, I’m really going to be there. I’ll prove that I can still be part of this team.” He looked at each one of them, his gaze resting on each to catch their eyes, their determination. “As long as we keep our drive. Our reason for pushing on, there’s no way we can lose. And no reason we can’t find the Lions. You guys with me?!”

A resounding “YES” echoed in the room. Lance was living for the hype, happy he was finally on the same page as his friends after all these years. He smiled, heart contracting and feeling the growing conviction in their mission growing….

Until he realized conviction still wouldn’t help their current predicament.

“Uhh...just so you’re aware, still don’t know exactly HOW we’re supposed to find the Lions. Sorry.”

Keith stood and walked over to Lance, placing a hand on his shoulder. The act made Lance gasp quietly.

“It’s alright. We’ll figure out a way. But you’ve hit the mark. We need to start thinking about what connects us to our Lions directly.” Keith looked down, mouth twisting slightly, before coming back up to look at Lance, “What is it you say? ‘I say Vol—, you say’...?”

Lance’s eyes sparked, looking right at Keith. A bright grin grew slowly from ear to ear, joy expanding in his chest. He shouted, “—TRON! VOL—?”

The rest of the team answered him. “—TRON!”

“VOL—?”

“—TRON!”

Keith smiled. Sure, before he thought it was silly, and didn’t really get it at first. But after Pidge told him how inspiring pep could boost morale in a team, he’d been saving his little nod to old times for a chance when Lance needed it. Seemed like a perfectly good time.

“We’ll find them. And we’ll do it together.”

Lance swelled. All eyes were on him, confident and true. Lance was pretty sure he’d emptied his tear ducts with Shiro minutes before, but he could start to feel the corners of his eyes dampen again. Yeah, they were still at square one. But with the added drive of knowing what each of them wanted, Lance was certain they could find a way to connect with them somehow—

A jolt, a ripped cord, something clicked in Lance’s mind. It almost felt like someone flicked his brain. His cheeks warmed.

Keith squeezed Lance’s shoulder, concern in his voice. “Lance, you okay? Your…your marks are glowing.”

Lance touched his face, uncertainty pulled his brow. “I...I don’t know what’s—”

A roar echoed in his mind, loud and familiar. Looking over the group, each of his friends’ faces were in shock, Lance realizing they all must have heard it too.

Keith looked at Lance, a question in his eyes. Lance answered by turning on his heel and running out the door, the others following fast behind.

 

\--

 

Outside, the orange glow of the evening cast the sky in a rainbow of colors with the sunset. However, panicking Arusians scrambled, the ground shaking slightly underneath their feet. Atlas crew members attempted to herd citizens back to their huts, others heading back to the ship to take their own shelter.

Lance and the rest of the team ran out to the cliffside. Lance herd the Arusian King address his people as they rushed by. “The rumbling earth has returned! The Lion Goddess is angered!”

While Lance was pretty certain the quakes had nothing to do with a Lion Goddess, he felt the same tug in his gut. A suspenseful feeling coursed through him, and he hoped he could remain upright to see what was going on.

They stopped ten feet from the cliff, where they had a vantage point of most of the major landmarks of Arus. They all looked around, watching for everything and anything. The only thing they saw was the wind shifting the trees in the evening sky.

Hunk gulped. “Okay, so I’m guessing we all heard that roar on the ship just now, but does anyone know what that means or what we’re looking for?”

Lance wanted to answer, but couldn’t. He looked up to the sky, hoping for a mark or a sign or something. He found himself reaching out, praying almost, to Allura, hoping she’d give them some kind of nudge in the right direction.

Lance would like to think she answered him.

A crash of water brought their eyes to the ocean. A one-hundred foot spire of water shot into the sky, drops cascading around and creating splashes and waves that crashed into the shore.

Rising higher into the sky, making some loops and spirals as it did, like it was happy to finally stretch its legs and fly, was the Blue Lion.

Lance was still for a solid six tics, looking at Blue’s form spin and dance. Until all of the emotions in him expanded and burst.

“WHOOP! There she is! YES!”

Blue halted and roared, the sound an embrace surrounding the group. A loud rustle to their right turned their attention to the forest. The trees shook and blew, a mass of air passing through the canopies. A mass rose from the forest, the Green Lion leaping and making leaves fall all around.

“Ha HA! I can’t believe it!” Pidge exclaimed, overjoyed to see her Lion.

A rumble below them made their legs shake. Before it threatened to knock them to the ground, the base of the cliff blasted open, rocks flying into the ocean and creating a cloud of dust. Yellow shot out low over the water, before somersaulting to look back over the cliff.

“There’s my boy!” Hunk waved his hands high over his head.

The wind picked up, and they looked to the backs, a roar coming from the desert. Lance thought it looked like a sandstorm flying at them, but the cloud settled, and the form of the Red Lion shot towards them, passing over their heads with lightning speed, almost blowing them over.

A piercing crack echoed in the sky, and the team looked up to the mountain top. Keith swore he saw the tip shake, and he was right, as the peak burst, and a flash of purple jettisoned into the sky. The Black Lion rose higher and higher, Keith thought probably passing through the atmosphere, before spiraling back down, its wings glowing with energy.

The Lions flew overhead, twisting and turning with their regained freedom, greeting one another and putting on a show. The group below looked up and them in awe, stunned to see their partners after so long.

Pidge had too many questions on her mind. “Guess we know what the Arusians meant by ‘rumbling earth’ now. But, why here?”

Shiro brought his gaze down. “Maybe they had the same idea as Hunk. Maybe they wanted to come back to where it all started, until we needed them again.”

Hunk looked at Shiro, a little blush coloring his face. He felt his pride swell a bit. Yeah, he had some good ideas now and again.

Lance eyed the sky, watching the Lions’ colors mix with the glow of the setting sun. He reflected, realizing he hadn’t felt this happy in years. Seeing the Lions. Feeling his friends’ elation. Realizing that they maybe stood a chance against the Malteans now. He looked down and his eyes caught on Keith.

Keith’s face was indescribable, but Lance could try. Keith wore a smile brighter than a star. His eyes gleamed and turned magenta in the evening light. His grizzly look was missing, and a softer, jovial posture was left in its place. Like Lance, he wasn’t paying attention to one Lion, but all of them collectively, drinking in their image.

His gaze lowered, and his eyes locked with Lance’s. The same grin was now directed at Lance, filling him with...uhh, Lance didn’t really know. Keith’s expression almost seemed to say _you were right_ or _good job_ or….or _thank you_.

Lance offered a shaky smile back, before looking away, rose coloring his cheeks. His happy feeling from seeing the Lions shot up about ten degrees. Seeing Keith happy that the Lions were back was...was…

Lance shook his head vigorously. Obviously his emotions were high after getting the Lions back, and everyone was sharing their feelings of relief. Obviously.

The Lions landed in a circle around the team, sitting on their hind legs. Hunk and Pidge ran to each of theirs.

Hunk catapulted himself onto Yellow’s paw, rubbing it affectionately. “Oh I’ve missed you so much, boy! I’m gonna make sure and clean you up nice and pretty after being underground for so long!”

Pidge ran over to Green, the Lion bending down to meet her partner. Pidge hugged Green’s muzzle. “It’s so good to see you, girl! I’ve tinkered with some new tech that I know you’ll love!”

Lance watched them, smiling. A low growl filled his mind, and he looked up, his eyes set on the Red Lion.

It didn’t look like Red had the same emotion as the others (granted the Lions were made of metal, they couldn’t SHOW emotions). Red looked blank, a bit standoffish.

“Hey Red, long time no see.”

Nothing. Not a feeling of solidarity, no connection. Lance offered his puzzlement to Red, wondering if he could catch it, and answer why Red felt so distant. Lance brought his attention to Keith, who was standing in front of the Black Lion.

Keith looked up at the beast. A feeling passed through him. A drive. A call to action. The Black Lion was ready to fight, and Keith could only agree. He returned the feeling, but also conveyed his joy, happy to see the Lions all together again.

But…

Keith turned to the Blue Lion. Lance followed his gaze, and stepped to stand beside him. The rest of the team all looked up to Blue, gazes all turning a bit sad.

Hunk perked first. “So...I guess we need to find a new Blue Paladin?”

Keith looked to Shiro, whose eyes were cast to the side, looking like he wasn’t sure if he should be there or not. Keith steeled.

“Shiro, you were the original Black Paladin, you should be leader again.”

Shiro raised his brow in surprise, looking at Keith. Keith’s look was unwavering, and Shiro saw how much growing up Keith had been through. He laxed his gaze. “Keith, thank you, but...you’ve become a fantastic leader. I can’t take that from you. Plus,” he looked to Lance, “I know you’ve made your own bond with the Red Lion. I don’t want to separate that either.”

Lance blushed, realizing, yes, if Shiro got Black again, Keith would go back to Red, and Lance would go to Blue. Not a bad thought; he loved Blue and did miss flying her, but Shiro was right. Lance had made a different connection with Red. One that he was unsure if he wanted to break. Plus, there was the fact Red was being a bit of a diva right now, and Lance wanted to find out why.

“Thanks Shiro. But then, Hunk’s right. What are we going to do about a new Blue paladin?”

A roar made them all cover their ears. Blue’s head reared back like a protest, or maybe like she was interjecting? Either way, everyone got quiet and looked up to her as she lowered her gaze to the ground.

Something inside Shiro sparked as he watched her. He got an eerie feeling, a memory that surfaced from years ago.

“Lance, remember how you said the Blue Lion’s eyes were following you when we first found it?”

Lance felt a growing suspense in his gut, looking to Blue, then back at Shiro. “Uhh, yeah?”

“I think I understand what you meant by that now.”

Blue lowered her head down to the ground. Her eyes glowed bright yellow. And her face was directly in front of Shiro.

Everyone held their breath, not moving an inch. Shiro took an uneasy breath, then started forward, walking over to the Lion. He looked up at her muzzle, then stretched his arm out, touching her snout. A warm feeling passed through him. He felt like he was at home, or with Curtis. He felt safety, familiarity. He felt like he was shaking the hand of a friend.

He looked up to Blue. “Are...are you sure?” he asked.

A purred rumbled out of Blue, answering him. The warmth filled him, and joyful emotion washed over Shiro. He retracted his hand, and Blue’s mouth opened wide, welcoming him in.

Whoops and hollers came from Pidge, Hunk and Coran, the latter two hugging each other and tearing up. Pidge shot fists in the air.

“Yes! Awesome Shiro!”

“This is amazing! We’ve got five paladins again!

“Knew you had it in you, my boy!”

Shiro swelled, a million emotions racketing his mind. One thought however, struck him like a tuning fork, and he turned.

Lance was looking at Blue. His eyes looked a bit watery, but otherwise determined. Like he had just received an answer he was expecting. His arms were at his sides in fists. Not in angry grips, but in confident clutches. He walked over to Shiro, purpose in his steps. Shiro waited, not sure what to expect, but then Lance melted into a smile.

“You deserve it Shiro. If anyone is going to pilot Blue, I couldn’t think of anyone better than you. I know...this is what she would want.”

He extended his hand. Shiro smiled and shook it, both men sharing prideful looks at one another.

Keith stepped up next to them. “You sure, Shiro?”

Shiro shrugged. “Might be good of me to take the back seat for once. Plus, you’re the leader Keith. Maybe I’ll learn something from following you.”

Keith grinned, happy that the Lions were back. Happy that there was no need to find a new paladin or shift around Lions. And especially happy that Shiro had his place again. They all did.

They were the paladins of Voltron again.

Hunk ran in place, giddy with anticipation. “Well, what are we waiting for?! We’ve got the Lions back. Lance knows where we need to go. Let’s go beat those Malteans once and for all!”

Cheers shouted around him as each paladin rushed to their Lion, Kosmo running into Black with Keith, and Coran following behind Hunk. Each paladin got to the cockpits of their Lions, flipping switches and turning on launch protocols. Familiar lights and symbols flickered on their dashes as their seats locked into place.

Shiro rolled into Blue’s cockpit. It had been a long time since being inside a Lion, even longer since he piloted one. Sitting in the seat, he looked around, noticing the slight smaller size of Blue’s pit, the cerulean glow washing over him. Looking around the dash to his right, his eyes caught on an object. The blue bayard was locked in the ignition. Shiro gingerly brought his hand to it, clicking it and pulling it out of the switch. He looked it over, small in is robot arm.

A sudden weight fell over his shoulders. Old memories flashed in his head, reminding him of their last meeting. But also... of Allura’s winning smile. Her confidence in all of them. Shiro steeled, recognizing the responsibility that came with piloting Blue.

“I won’t let you down.” Shiro said, hoping she’d hear him.

Blue did, roaring in agreement and rising from the ground, the quick change in altitude making Shiro’s body lunge. The Lions shot into the sky, looping and dancing with one another, each paladin getting the feel for flying again.

“WHOO!” Lance cheered. “MAN I forgot how good this felt!”

Keith smiled, hearing Lance over his com, but then shifted back to leader mode. “Lance, do you have the heading for where to go?”

Lance blinked, then focused. His gut felt warm, tugging at his navel. He couldn’t put it into words, but the pull led him out into the sky, getting a tiny bit stronger as they moved forward. “Yeah, I got it.”

Keith nodded. “Then we’ve got a plan. Find the spot for the dimensional jump, find the Malteans, and figure out a way to stop them from using their comet. Let’s go!”

A group “YEAH” sounded on the coms. Pidge gripped her controls, arms thrumming with a welcoming tingle. She was ecstatic to be back in her Lion, and she couldn’t wait to—

A video com popped up on her screen. The image of Sam Holt flickered into view.

“Katie! What’s going on?!”

“Dad, you won’t believe it! We found the Lions!”

“That’s great sweetie. But where are you going?!”

. . .

Pidge didn’t admit when she had a brain fart. Ever. Because that was a dig at her own intelligence. So when she DID experience a brain fart, it was a surprise, even to her. She made the mental note in the future to think things through a little more, before shouting out, “We forgot the Atlas!”

All five Lions screeched to a halt (if a flying object could screech in the sky), Yellow having a bit more momentum than the others and careening forward in a somersault.

Keith’s mouth was a thin line. Red flushed his cheeks as embarrassment washed over him. He may have an impulsive attitude, but now he was leader again, and now he was leading SHIRO, the leader of leaders. He reminded himself to be more thoughtful and patient with his decisions. But, he also swelled with a bit of cockiness, as he realized Shiro ALSO went along and forgot about his own crew on the Atlas.

“Okay, new plan. We go back and get ready, THEN go after the Malteans. Agreed?”

“Agreed.”

The Lions turned, flying back down to Arus, a crowd of civilians and crew members cheering for their return.

 

\--

 

Hira’s footsteps clacked down the hall of the main base ship. Red lights bathed her silver armor in a bloody glow, the crimson gems accenting it shining with the light. Lamps illuminated with masses of swirling smoke loomed above her, thrashing violently. Her strides were long and purposeful, her head at attention and poised like a marble sculpture.

She passed through the throne room doors, gliding down to the end of the hall. She kneeled, her arm over her chest, bowing in salute. She looked up, eyes on the back of a throne facing towards the window of the ship.

“Your excellency, Renfrin has picked up spikes in quintessential energy from the Kilolima reality. My troops are ready to jump at your command.”

A silence followed her statement. Hira waited for an order, an awkward feeling creeping up her spine. She heard a deep breath from the other side of the throne.

“We will remain in place, Commander.”

Hira’s eyes popped open. “Excellency, we have the location of the comet and we are ready to strike! We have enough firepower to take down anyone who—“

“As I said before, Commander. These people are resilient. They will come to stop us with their own comet. And we’ll be waiting for them.”

Hira gritted her face, her body rigid with defiance. She didn’t want to wait. She wanted to fight and take down her enemies. “Excellency, I implore you. Let me destroy them and take their comet quickly. There’s no need to risk—“

“Enough, Commander.”

Hira lowered her head, waiting for a verbal punishment. Instead, she heard a tired sigh.

“I know you’re capable. However, I am still intrigued by the energy spike you transmitted during your last mission. I believe we will find out more if we let them come to us.”

“And you’re certain they will? What if they just sit and bolster their defenses?”

The voice was silent. Hira imagined it was considering her question.

“They will come. I sense a similar energy to our own. The draw is too strong to ignore. They will come.”

Hira wanted to protest, but she kept her mouth closed. She wasn’t versed in the science and alchemy behind quintessence; she left that to Renfrin and the scientists. So she bowed deep, rose, and turned, leaving the hall.

As the doors shut behind her, Hira fumed. Reality after reality, they had stormed in, caused a little chaos, and exited just as quickly with a new comet in their possession. What made this universe so different? She frowned, walking down the hall and back to her station. Her gaze rose, looking at the smoke lamps above her. A chill crawled up her back as one twitched, slapping itself against the glass of the lamp.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...how many of you hate me for that fart joke?  
> Hope you all had some fun this episode! Like, this was my number #1 I wanted to write mainly to get to that Lance/Shiro conversation. But the paladin bonding exercises were a hoot too.  
> Again, catch me on tumblr, twitter, and instagram for the episode poster, "clips", and any other tidbits. Hit me up if you like the story!


	7. Follow the Leader

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance digs into old times. Keith digs himself into some trouble. Pidge and Hunk dig into their feelings. Shiro digs a new upgrade.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU for being so patient on this one. Promise the next ep won't take nearly as long. And as for this one, for what it entails and being the longest episode to date...trust me, it's worth the wait.

Lightning flashed and cosmic dust gusts lashed at the Lions. The spiraling of the storm threatened to suck them in further and further. Debris flung at their sides and knocked the Lions around. Shouts from cockpits reached the coms of the Atlas, where the crew could only sit and look on from a distance away, able to pick up the sudden storm just seconds before the paladins flew into it.

Coran watched in horror as the Lions thrashed about. Crew members tried to find some way to reel them back in, but all options got them too close to the storm.

Coran gripped his console at the helm. “Paladins! Can you hear me?!”

More shouts and yells filled the speakers of the deck. Pidge’s voice finally rang through, static distorting her voice.

“We have no control—orm is dropping our sign—gravity is pulling us into the pla—!” The line died, static replacing her voice.

In the storm, Keith pulled at his controls with everything he had. Red alerts flashed and spiked. His seat shook. He could barely see any of the other Lions in front of him. He was panicking.

So much for being a leader again.

“Everyone! Try to go with the storm rather than fight it! We’re stuck no matter what!”

Keith may have shouted, but he wasn’t even sure if the signal reached his friends. Another bump of turbulence knocked him to the side, bruising his arm. Looking out the window, he saw the storm start to clear, but also the brown surface of the planet that it covered. And they were headed straight for it.

“Everyone brace for impact! We’re going down!”

Lance heard Keith, and would have answered, if his teeth weren’t chattering from the downward spiral. He heard the other yells of his friends over Red’s coms. Yes, he now regretted not listening to Hunk to just fly in the Atlas to search for the comet. But NO, Lance HAD to be the one to lead the charge, and Keith HAD to agree so he could bring up that they HAD to bond with their Lions again. 

Barreling towards an unknown planet shot all of that out of the water.

Lance pulled his controls and was sure he felt a muscle pop, trying to level out Red best he could to avoid a point blank crash. At the last second, Red dipped up, skidding on the ground and shaking Lance inside. Lance saw the forest approaching rather quickly in his view. He squeezed his eyes shut. The impact knocked his head into the back of his seat. The last thing he thought of before passing out was  _ Man, some first day back in the saddle, huh? _

 

\--

 

_ 2 years before Kerberos _

 

He pushed his throttle with all his might. He shifted power from his leveling systems to his back thrusters. He leveled out to gain the lift from the air pockets below. No matter what he did, Lance was still behind the rest of the class.

They’d done about four simulation classes so far, and Lance had failed each one of them. That, and some of the more...disagreeable classmates had decided to tease Lance about his routine shortcomings.

“Looks like Lance is tailing behind...again. Anyone want to do a roundabout and be a fly buddy so we don’t lose points?” A red haired boy, Conner, announced over his com to the rest of the class. Sighs echoed in Lance’s ears, all of them disgruntled that their entire class was going to get docked points because they couldn’t keep a solid formation. Lance blushed, eyes stinging while his gut bubbled with embarrassment.

“Come on ‘ _ Tailer’,  _ get with the program and make sure to do your pre-checks right the first time.”

“You know how stupid that nickname sounds?! Real stupid! How long did it take you to think of that one?!” Lance shouted out to Conner, eyes wide, ready for a verbal brawl.

“That’s enough cadets!”

A ringing voice made all the students jump. Lance felt a double dose of embarrassment, forgetting that, duh, they were still in class with teachers watching. 

“While you can cut the arguing, Conner is right. The first thing you need to do in this situation is make sure your pilots aren’t ever alone. One would go back to provide air support, even if it breaks formation. He’s also right that Lance, you didn’t pre-check your craft in full, which is why you’re following behind. Sorry but have to dock you points for that too.”

Lance turtled his head. Mr. W, or as he was told by his sister Veronica, Adam, didn’t do anything but state the facts, but being called out didn’t do Lance any favors. A grumbling Conner fell in place by Lance. 

“Kind of wish we could chop off this tail…”

Lance’s vision blurred, more water than normal filling his eyes.

 

\--

 

“I don’t understand. Every time we do simulators together, you’re always top score.”

Lance was facedown on Veronica’s bed. She sat at her desk, homework and student aid grading stacked next to her. Her dorm room was kept neat and tidy, aside from the stacks of tupperware from leftovers snuck from the cafeteria. Lance was happy she was a Resident Advisor, and that he didn’t have to deal with a roommate of hers wondering why he was a blubbering mess. 

Lance sniffled. “That’s ‘cause you’re there, V. You’re not judging me or criticizing me. I can just have fun. In class there’s all the rules you gotta follow and stuff you gotta memorize and it gets distracting.”

“Uhh, yeah. They’re called protocols. They’re important because they keep you and other people in the sky.”

Lance grunted. She was right, but he didn’t want to agree out loud. 

“It doesn’t help that class is just boring in general. Or that memorizing hurts my brain.”

Veronica sighed, smiling at her brother. “Lance, I know you’re smarter than you think. You just need to find a way to get into the right mindset.”

Lance lifted his head, locking eyes with her. “I got into the Garrison because YOU recommended me, V. I mean, thanks, ‘cause it’s my dream, but I think everyone’s starting to realize I don’t have the same stuff as my sister.”

A plush bunny collided with Lance’s nose. A bullseye from the Fastest and Sharpest Eye in the Garrison, Veronica’s nickname. “You can’t put yourself down like that. You’ve got talent. You just haven’t had the chance to show it yet.”

Lance rubbed his nose. “Yeah? And how am I gonna do that?”

Veronica tapped her pencil to her cheek, pondering. Lance studied his sister. Everyone loved Veronica. She was charming, charismatic, a sharp tongue and was an ace shot, brilliant in the classroom and in the cockpit. She was one of the stars of the Garrison’s student teachers. Lance loved his sister, and loved her getting so much attention for being awesome. His dream was to join her in the awesomeness, and be a Garrison fighter pilot and fly through space. He just never realized how much work there was. And...how many people would be breathing down his back if he failed.

Veronica twisted the pencil in her fingers. “Maybe we need to get you a drive.”

Lance cocked a brow. “What does that mean?”

Veronica straightened, placing the pencil behind her ear. “Well, the way I get better at shooting is I always go into a session aiming to beat my score from the last time. Maybe you just need something to push you to go above and beyond your best.”

Lance crossed his arms, skeptic eyes squinting at his sister. “And what do you propose would be a good ‘drive’?”

“Well, most people find a goal to achieve and make steps to get there. Others look to a role model of some sort to emulate. Just something that you can apply to what you do.”

Lance thought about that, the words “role model” bouncing in his brain. He had an idea of who he’d like to be, and how awesome it would be to even be a fraction of cool that  _ he _ was.

He looked up, his negativity slowly draining out of him. “Thanks V.”

She smiled, turning back to her computer to continue grading. “Oh, and I talked to your teacher. I’m transferring you into the preparatory block. The one that gets more hands on with simulators and goes into more advanced material.”

Lance gulped. He came to his sister’s room to complain at how he sucked at NORMAL class. Now she was putting him in the advanced class where he would most certainly be ridiculed by everyone, maybe even the teacher.

Veronica turned back to her brother. “Maybe we can get those bullies off your back...I believe in you Lance. Give yourself the chance to do the same.”

He melted. Veronica could do that. Sure, his anxiety rocketed into the stratosphere, but maybe it was what he needed to do better.

Maybe he could find his drive to be great.

 

\--

 

“Lance is an excellent and natural pilot. A pretty good shot too, however that’s just the McLain talent, I should know.”

The students chuckled at Veronica’s joke. Lance was ecstatic she came to introduce him to his new class. She had made a name for herself at the Garrison, and she knew that they knew she was good. Maybe not the same celebrity status as a certain  _ other _ student teacher, but Lance figured his sister knew being introduced by someone with a little fame might help his street cred.

“Thank you Ms. McLain.” An middle aged teacher applauded Veronica. “I’m sure Lance will do excellent in our class. You can go take a seat in one of those back empty desks, right behind Ms. Shaybon there.”

Veronica squeezed Lance’s shoulder as she turned to leave, himself nodding at her, and going to sit behind the girl his teacher pointed out. She was definitely cute, caramel locks and freckled skin, and dark brown eyes that looked like espresso. The butterflies fluttered in his stomach as he sat, the girl turning to look at him.

“Hi, my name is Jenny, it’s so cool that Veronica is your sister.”

Lance put on his best cocky smile, leaning back and putting his arms behind his head. “Yup, she’s pretty cool. Just a gene that runs in the family.” He winked at her. Jenny giggled as she turned back to face the front.

Lance smirked, already thinking about how he was going to tell her all about the McLain siblings’ tales of awesomeness, when a tap to his shoulder brought his attention to the right.

A rounder kid, maybe a tad taller than Lance, with puppy dog brown eyes, a dark complexion, and an orange sash crowning his charcoal hair, sheepishly recoiled his finger, like he had touched a hot plate. Lance was a little flattered someone might be embarrassed to talk to him, after an amazing introduction like that. 

“Uh, hi there. Um, you said you could fly really well?”

Lance shot him a finger gun, a wink in his eye. “That’s correctamundo my compadre. I’m like an eagle in the sky when I fly.”

The kid’s eyes lit up, like he was imagining Lance airborne and looping in circles. “Aw that’s awesome! I mean, I’m more on the engineering tract, but to pass you need to get good scores on all the subjects, and flying isn’t my best. You think you could, only if you wanted to, and only if you’re not too busy or think it’s annoying—“

“Dude, just say it.”

“Oh, uh, okay. You think you could show me how you fly? I’m kinda falling behind. That, and the simulators upset my stomach.”

Lance thought back to his last simulator flight, and how horribly it had gone. But this kid was sincerely asking for some tutoring. Plus Veronica was right. Alone, Lance was an amazing pilot. So maybe a one-on-one session with someone might help him branch out and not get so nervous.

“Sure thing man. It’s not as hard as you think. And, you said you were into engineering? Studying isn’t my strongest suit, so maybe you could school me on the textbook stuff. Whaddya say?”

The kid’s face exploded. A smile brighter than the sun flashed, stretching his cheeks. Lance’s heart swelled. He’d never met someone so genuine and sweet. He was almost afraid he’d break the big galoot. Lance decided in that moment, he’d be there for this kid no matter what. What could he say? He was a natural friend maker.

He stuck out his hand. “The name’s Lance. But, you already knew that.”

The kid grasped it, a warm but surprisingly soft shake bounced Lance’s arm. “I’m Hunk. Nice to meet ya.”

They separated as Lance turned to face the front. So far so good. Veronica made a great first impression to the class. He already had a girl maybe interested in him. And now he’d made a friend who was actually going to help him out. Maybe switching classes was his moment. Maybe he’d finally be able to succeed and realize he wasn’t—

A rustle of the door sliding open perked all the heads in the room. A tall man came rushing into the door, huffing from exhaustion. He straightened, taking deep breaths to regain his composure.

Lance’s breath hitched. The man had a muscular build. His eyes were like storm clouds, but the ones you saw from afar that were pleasant to watch roll by. Black hair mopped the top of his head, a large tuft styled to the front, and an undercut buzzed on his sides. His brow was thick but jovial, and a squared jaw led up to a gasping mouth that Lance had seen turn into one of the biggest smiles.

It was his hero. The ace pilot of the Garrison. Shiro.

“I’m so sorry I’m late! Got caught up with some paperwork.”

The teacher waved her hand. “Not at all Shiro. I was wondering when you’d be coming in. Go ahead and address the class.”

Shiro turned, and yup, he put on that winning smile Lance got to see at Garrison assemblies when they’d do the upperclassman meet-and-greets. “Sorry if I’m interrupting you all. Again, my name is Shiro. And I wanted to come in and introduce you to someone new today.”

Lance felt the room get ten degrees hotter, and was sure his skin shifted three shades redder. No way. Veronica did NOT ask THE SHIRO to come to his new class to talk him up. Uh-uh. His sister was cool but THIS COOL?! Lance felt like he could faint. He also felt Hunk’s concerned gaze on him, probably wondering if he was going through heatstroke.

Shiro cleared his throat. “He might be young, but he’s an extremely accomplished flyer. I have the utmost confidence he’ll be one of the best pilots in the Garrison’s program. I have no doubt he’ll be an excellent addition to your class.”

Wow. Veronica must have told him to really sweeten the details. Lance puffed his chest a bit. Hearing straight from his hero that he, Lance, was going to be the next big flyer was the boost he needed. Maybe this is what Veronica meant by a drive. Living up to Shiro’s expectations was definitely a goal he could get behind.

“So, rather than keep any more of you time, may I introduce—“

Lance shut his eyes and smugly smiled, already backing out of his seat to stand—

“Keith? Would you like to come in?”

…

The room dropped forty degrees but Lance’s face was still the same shade of red. 

A boy walked in behind Shiro and stood next to him.

He was Lance’s height, maybe a tad shorter. He wore a stern look that was almost comical on his baby face. His thick brows didn’t offer the same happy upturn that Shiro's did, but they hooded two big, violet eyes. Violet? Lance tried to find the word that would match the shade racketing his limited knowledge of colors. Indigo. His eyes looked like that crayon in the box that he never really touched.

What really irked Lance was how this kid styled his hair. Looking at Shiro's trendy undercut and coiffed bangs was like a Greek sculpture compared to the messy mop on the boy’s head. Black locks flipped every which way to his chin line, and while a mullet was a horrible hairstyle in Lance’s opinion, it actually framed the kid’s face well.

Shiro placed a hand on the kid’s shoulder. “Keith has got a lot of potential. I hope you all welcome him with open arms.”

Shiro patted Keith twice, and turned to leave the room, Keith watching him as he left.

“Well, welcome Keith. Two new students in one day is quite a surprise. You can go take a seat behind, let’s see, how about Mr. Griffin, back there?”

Lance saw Keith tense for a millisecond, locking eyes with a boy kitty corner to where Lance was sitting. “Griffin’s” back tensed as well, Lance seeing a frown pull on his face. Looking between the two, he could deduce there was some kind of history, because both of their faces clearly said  _ loathe.  _

Keith started toward his seat, locking eyes with Griffin for another quick second, before sitting down behind him...and next to Lance.

Too many thoughts were nagging in Lance’s brain. Teach was right. What were the ODDS of TWO students getting transferred in a single day? Not only that, Lance was sure he had the coolest introduction with one of the coolest people in the world. Then this kid goes and ups him by bringing the number one pilot in Garrison history to meet the class, and Shiro praises the kid as some flying prodigy. The worst part, this Keith guy exuded coolness. He kept a blank stare at the chalkboard, like he already knew everything the teacher was talking about. He slouched slightly, but his hair fell in spots that really brought out the contrast in his eyes. Lance scrunched his nose, thinking that the guy must have some kind of downside to him that Lance could feel better about.

Jenny turned, looking over to Keith, waving slightly. Keith didn’t seem to notice. Jenny leaned in more, quietly coughing to get his attention. Keith just shifted his eye, cocking a brow.

“Hi, I’m Jenny. It’s really cool that you know Shiro. He’s like, the best pilot.”

Keith blinked. “Yeah. I guess.”

Jenny backed off slightly, not expecting the cold shoulder. She giggled uncomfortably and smiled. “I-uh, I’d love to see you fly sometime. You must be really great if Shiro thinks so.”

Keith turned his attention back toward the chalkboard. “We have classes in the simulators. We’ll all see each other fly then.”

Jenny recoiled, turning slowly back to face the board.

Lance eyed Keith. The girl compliments him and he basically tells her to buzz off. Dude. Rude. That’s a lady.

Lance must have had audible vision, because it took him a second to realize Keith was looking right at him, an annoyed, but also intrigued, scowl on his face. “You need something?”

Lance sputtered, turning back to look down at his desk. “Pfft! No. Don’t need anything. Not. At. All.”

Keith peered at him, but then shrugged and turned forward again, slightly more interested in what the teacher had to say. 

Lance kept his face straight, but still kept his eyes on Keith.  _ Who was this guy? _ Just comes in and thinks he’s top dog around here? Sure it was Lance’s first day too, but no one had a right to be THAT hard-headed when making a first impression. 

“Psst. Lance. Lance!”

Lance’s ears heard Hunk whispering to him, but his mind didn’t register it. His focus was all on the kid with the dated haircut and the cosmic colored eyes.

“Lance. Hey, Lance...”

 

\--

  
_Present day_  
  


“Lance! Lance can you hear me?! Say something buddy!”

Lance groaned. He felt his body draped over his seat. His head was a bit shaken but it didn’t hurt. He blinked open his eyes. Inside his cockpit was dark. All of his systems were shut down. The Red Lion gave no indication anything was running. 

He straightened, rubbing his hand on his helmet, gaining back some of his bearings. Looking out the window, he saw Red’s face was smashed into a group of trees, dirt and rocks piled to the sides from the impact of their crash. Lance leaned back in his seat. Sure, three years was a considerable amount of time, but flying the Lions was like riding a bike. Messing up this bad would’ve sent Coalition members into a panic, realizing their heroes had become zeroes in such a short time.

“Lance! Answer me! Are you there?!”

Hunk’s terrified shouts rang in Lance’s ears. Lance groaned out another bout of fatigue before he answered.

“Yeah man, I’m here. One piece. Maybe a little bent but I’ll manage.”

The sigh of relief that came from Hunk’s mouth could sail ships. “Oh thank Crow.”

“Lance, are you stuck? Anything working?” Pidge always sticking to the details.

“Nope. Nothing’s on or responding. Dead as a doornail. Wait, where are you guys?”

“We’re outside looking up at your Lion,” Pidge answered. “We crashed pretty close to where you landed.”

Lance stood carefully, the odd angle Red was in shifted his stance. “Alright, I’m coming out. Be there in a sec.”

Lance walked to Red’s upper escape hatch, opened the door, and pulled himself up and out onto the top of the Lion. He stood, looking around at where they had landed.

The forest he’d smashed into looked like it was going through autumn, red leaves blowing in the light breeze. The earth was dark grey with maybe a tint of purple to the dirt. Out past the forest, small mountains rose and fell in the evening sky, reds, blues, and violets lighting up the clouds. Further out, he could see them slope a bit, wondering if this planet had any deep ravines. Above, he spotted the cosmic storm swirling in the atmosphere, churning winds and debris adding streaks of crimson in the sky. To his left, he spotted the Yellow and Green Lions both dug in the dirt, trees littered around them.

Below, he caught Hunk waving up at him, Pidge looking at her gauntlet screen. Lance slowly climbed down Red, sliding as his feet hit the earth. Hunk ran and wrapped his arms around him, squeezing tight. 

“Easy Hunk! Already dodged getting crushed once today!”

Hunk set him down, his smile still beaming. Pidge raised her eyes and grinned as well. “Rather be crushed and talking than silent.”

Lance scanned the area. The sky made their surroundings dull with the glow, aside from the bright colors of their Lions. However, two distinct shades were missing from their feline rainbow.

“Wait. Where’s Keith? And Shiro?”

Pidge tapped at her screen. “I can’t pick up their suit signatures. That and their com signals are just static. I think the storm is interfering with our transmissions. But,” she pointed to her right, towards where Lance thought he saw ravines, “the Lions give off such a strong energy signature that they’re easy to pick up. The Black Lion is that way,” she pointed opposite to the left, “the Blue Lion landed over that way. The only problem is, I can't get a topographic read on the planet, so I have no idea what they landed in.”

Lance’s nerves started to creep. They’d just become team Voltron again,  and now they were separated. Not exactly the best situation for weathered and worn heroes to be caught in. 

“What about the Atlas? Any word from them?”

“Nope. Storm is still raging and cutting off contact. The only signals I can get are the Lions’ energy signatures, or our coms if we’re close enough. Otherwise we’re sitting ducks.”

Lance pursed his lips. Who knew how long it would take for the Lions to gain power. Or how long the storm was going to last so the Atlas could get through. Either way, being separated without any contact to two of their teammates wasn’t a wise idea.

“Okay, rather than sit around and wait for something else to come kill us, let’s at least regroup so we can make a plan. Pidge and Hunk, you go find Shiro. I’ll go look for Keith.”

Pidge and Hunk raised their brows simultaneously, then eyed each other, curiosity sparkling in their gazes. Lance felt a silent conversation pass between them that apparently, he didn’t get to be a part of. 

“What?!”

Hunk looked back at him. “Well, it’s just, you sure you want to go alone?”

Lance huffed. “Well, if Shiro’s in trouble, he’s gonna need two people to help him out. That guy’s a tank. I can handle Keith on my own. He’s probably already on his way, knowing how impatient he is.”

Pidge raised her brow. Lance raised his as well, unsure and slightly uncomfortable as to why she was giving him that look. She sighed, stepping towards him and taking his hand. 

“Alright, I’ll at least lock our suit signals on to each other. That way if our coms go out, I’ll at least be able to track where you go.” She tapped a few codes into Lance’s gauntlet, then copied the gesture on her own. Lance offered her an appreciative smile. 

“Thanks, brainiac. We’ll meet back with our lost boys in tow. Be back soon.”

Lance saluted, and turned to walk off toward his destination. Pidge and Hunk slowly turned as well. 

As they walked, their legs started turning to jelly. Hunk eyed Pidge. Pidge eyed Hunk. They both broke. Giggles and squeals escaped their lips as Hunk bounced up and down. Pidge cursed to herself that their coms weren’t working right, wishing she’d be able to hear whatever words those two were going to pass between each other.

Alone. 

 

\--

 

Keith groaned, opening his eyes, immediately having a heart attack seeing the bottomless pit out of his window. Gasping for his life, he took a second to gain his surroundings. He was still in the Black Lion’s cockpit. He was breathing, thus alive. He remembered crashing from the storm. Putting that all into perspective, he got up from his seat, climbing to get to the Lion’s escape hatch. 

Exiting, he stood atop his Lion. A feeling of dread ran through his veins. Keith was about fifty feet deep in the middle of a chasm. The Black Lion was wedged between two opposing cliffs, stretching up to a warm sky. Keith didn’t feel anything shift below him, but he still slid off his Lion onto a jutting ledge, glueing his back to the face of the cliff. 

He looked up. The climb was a sheer drop. Not many footholds, and the rocks were damp from the slight humidity. Looking down, the ravine darkened into nothingness. No light or reflections shone. He wondered if the crack even had a bottom.

Keith tapped his com. “Hello? Anyone there? Sound off if you can hear me.” Static. Not a great sound. Perfect.

Keith slid to a sitting position. Looking at the Black Lion stuck in the canyon, he reflected on how crazy the past week had been. He chuckled. At some point he had to come to terms that his life just couldn’t stay calm. Something was always going to throw a curveball at him, and he was the batter swinging as hard as he could. He was lucky he hadn’t struck out just yet.

He looked up. The clouds rolled lazily by, reds mixing with the blue hues of the sky. Past that, he saw the storm that got them into this mess. When Lance told them he preferred to fly in his Lion to track the Malteans and the comet, Keith didn’t think anything of it. He trusted Lance’s instinct and was sure it would help them connect with their Lions,  and also with each other again. What he  _ didn’t _ expect was the Atlas picking up a sudden flare of gas and dust from the planet below, a split second before it happened. The Lions were so far ahead that they got caught, and the Altas has been spared. But that left them and the paladins separated, and with his Lion out of commission, no way to get in contact. He silently cursed, wishing Kosmo was here, but knew the wolf was still resting due to his space jump back on Oriande. 

Keith pressed his fist to his helmet, knocking it lightly a couple of times. “Nice foresight, Team Leader.”

 

\--

 

Shiro hopped off Blue’s paw, landing on the ground and scanned his area. Red trees rose around him. Blue had her face mashed into the forest. Behind her, a little pond bubbled and glistened in the sunset. The breeze blew leaves around him. It'd be a nice place for a walk, if Shiro didn’t have the terror that he was missing his team.

“Hello? Guys? Can anyone hear me?”

“Shiro! Oh thank the ancients we were able to reach you!”

Coran’s relieved voice bombarded Shiro’s eardrums. He set his volume down just a tad to make up for Coran’s enthusiasm. “Good to hear from you too, Coran. Have you contacted any of the others?”

“That’s a negative. The storm is interfering with our communication systems. We’re only able to reach you because Sam was able to lock on and boost the signal to your arm. He was able to amplify the radio signals that way. Plus we can’t get down to you until the storm passes.”

“Any idea how long that might be?”

“Sam gave a three varga estimate, but he wasn’t sure how the storm popped up in the first place so he’s looking into it. Until then, he’s asked that you stay put so we don’t risk losing your signal.”

Shiro cursed. He wanted to get started finding his team. Who knew what kind of trouble they were in. He raised his gauntlet screen. He saw five dots spaced out between each other. A blue dot showed his own Lion, while three others were huddled next to each other, and a Black one was located the furthest out. Not being able to contact them made him worry. If Keith was that far separated, hopefully the others were okay, and making a plan for rescue.

“Until then,” Corans voice popped back in his ear, “I have to help check on systems and see if there’s a way we can steer in and around the storm. But I’m leaving you in capable hands to keep you company while you wait!”

“Wait, Coran. What do you mean?”

“I can’t believe none of you listened to me! I told you it was a 21.14 percent chance of actually making through this mission without disaster. But you all decided to chance it, and look where we are now!”

…Shiros eye twitched. It twitched strongly. “Is anyone else there? Curtis? Veronica?!”

“They’re both attending to other duties. I’m the only one without a job presently, so I’ll be sure to monitor our communications until we can land on the planet. Don’t worry,” Slav assured him, “I’ll let you know about all the possible outcomes so you will be prepared for any and EVERY danger that might occur!”

Shiro took it back. The only one in any kind of peril at the moment was him. He dropped his shoulders, hoping one of his friends was on their way to rescue him.

 

\--

 

_ 1 ½ years before Kerberos _

 

The class’s simulation exercise was going pretty well. For once. Lance wasn’t nearly as far behind as he had been in his last class. Of course, working with Hunk had been heaven sent. Ever since their first study session, they’d been attached at the hip. Lance would help Hunk with different flying techniques, while Hunk would drill Lance on the textbook material and routine protocols that Lance kept missing before flights. It also helped that Hunk dragged behind slightly as well. Not to be mean, but it at least gave Lance a frame of reference as to what he was doing wrong. For Hunk, it just gave him a gurgling stomach; the one thing Lance couldn’t fix was Hunk’s indigestion. 

They cruised through their simulation, Lance able to catch up finally to his position in the formation. And not one kid called him out or berated him for falling behind. Not too bad for the best in the—

Lance felt his hydraulic bumper shake, meaning something “hit” him in the simulation. Looking at his window screen, he saw one of the planes zoom ahead, leaving the rest of them in the air-dust. 

_ Of course _ , Lance thought. The only one who would be stupid enough to fool off in class.

Keith’s craft dashed ahead in the sky. It looped and rolled and dived and basically the kid knew how to fly and he was showing it. And didn’t care who saw. Lance scrunched his nose. In truth, he’d like to do all of those things too. Well, he DID, but only when Veronica brought him in for one-on-one sessions, or when he’d swipe her access key and sneak in with Hunk to practice. 

A com buzzed on the loudspeakers. “Get back in line cadet! This is a practice drill, not a joy ride! You’re not here to goof off you’re here to learn how to fly!”

Lance couldn’t see his face, but he imagined Keith making a highly displeased face as he reluctantly pulled back into formation. And, again, bumped into Lance, setting off his turbulence alerts, again. Lance growled, annoyed with how Keith just showed off whenever he felt like it. Granted, Iverson was wrong. Keith already knew how to fly. Lance could see that much. It’s just Keith didn’t like following all the rules and protocols.

It was the one thing that Lance could relate to.

 

\--

 

“What makes him so attractive?”

Hunk coughed up half his sandwich, hoping he wouldn’t need to make Lance give him the Heimlich maneuver (because he was pretty sure Lance didn’t know it), and gave him the most incredulous stare he could after hearing something like that. “PARDON me?”

“I mean, everyone just crowds around the guy like he’s some boy band pop star. He even has the hair for it.”

Hunk peered over Lance to see what he was glaring at. Keith sat alone at one of the lunch tables, munching on some curry and rice from the day’s menu. A table away, Hunk could see a group of girls giggle and stare at him. One even snapshotted a picture of Keith mid-bite, which Hunk thought was EXTREMELY creepy, and even wondered if he should tell Keith he might have some stalkers.

A table on the opposite side of the room held James Griffin, along with some other kids not in their class; a girl with coppery skin and pulled-back midnight hair, a stoic black boy that broke into a smile after said girl blew milk out of her nose, and another freckled girl with choppy, short blonde hair, snacking on a cereal bar. Griffin eyed Keith too, a more menacing scowl than what the fan girls were giving. 

Hunk turned back to Lance. “Uhh, well, he IS the best in our class. Plus he’s got approval from Shiro, who’s like, the Garrison poster child. And, I mean I guess...he’s not THAT bad looking?”

Lance gawked at Hunk, downright appalled that his best friend would ever utter something so ridiculous. “WHAT?! The guy has the most dated hairstyle, doesn’t even smile ONCE since day one, AND despite all the praise and glory, he STILL chooses to screw it all up during class. And you’re saying he’s NOT. BAD. LOOKING?!”

Lance may have not realized he raised his voice, but Hunk did. And Hunk noticed the many eyes now staring in their direction, wondering why the heck McLain was shouting at the lunch table...again. 

Hunk waved his hands, trying to calm Lance down. Lance plopped down in his seat, fuming. Hunk sighed. “I just mean, maybe he’s not all what you think he is. Like, have you had a coherent conversation with the guy since you met him?”

Lance pursed his lips, pondering. And pondering. He frowned. “No...But that doesn’t mean he has a right to be a jerk.”

“Well, have you ever offered the olive branch to him?”

Lance raised his brows, then frowned, confused. Despite months of Keith’s popularity spike, plus the negative attention he was getting with the teachers, Lance couldn’t recall a moment of trying to ask the guy “Hey man, how ya doing?”

Lance dramatically crossed his arms. “Why should I? He’s never shown any sign he WANTS to make friends.”

“So...that means you WANT to be friends with him?”

And……...Lance didn’t know what to say. He’d been so affronted by his first impression of Keith, he was sure he just wanted him to either clean up his act or just leave. But...Hunk’s words struck a chord. An unplayed and out of tune chord, but one loud enough to resonate. He looked up at the lug. 

“I...I don’t know. He’s...it’s just...Okay so the guy knows Shiro, and I think that’s really cool, and if Shiro thinks he’s a cool guy then...I don’t know but it says SOMETHING, right?”

Hunk peered at him, eyes going small. “So this is just some ploy to meet Shiro?”

“NO! No, I just, who knows Hunk? Maybe if Keth noticed me, then Shiro would, and I could be like, the NEXT next big thing at the Garrison,” he sighed defeatedly.“‘Cause I think they’ve picked their next big thing already.”

Lance shoved his cheek into his hand as he stared back over to Keith. Everyone was either staring or talking or giggling, all about Keith. And Keith didn’t even care. The longer Lance looked, however, the more he saw a different look on Keith’s face. It wasn’t nonchalance or disinterest. It was…

It was isolation. 

 

\--

 

The next six months, Lance’s number one goal was to make SURE Keith knew he was not to be messed with. Hunk thought that was a little silly, since it was really Lance doing all the messing.

When Keith would get lunch, Lance would grab two and proceed to eat it all (taking a trip to the bathroom with an upset stomach and Hunk telling him “I told you so”). When Keith answered a question in class, Lance would stand and raise his hand at the next three after, even if he got all of them wrong (Hunk was nice enough to tutor him on the right answers after). When Keith would showboat during simulation exercises, Lance not only followed the instructions, but even went through every approved style maneuver when he could, executing each one perfectly. His only issue was all eyes were still on Keith, since he was still being a snot head and fooling around. 

So, Lance figured he’d try just that. 

One day during class, a teacher called on Lance for an answer to a question to a physics problem. Lance only grunted in retaliation. When the teacher prompted him again to answer, he decided the best thing to do was tell his teacher to “answer it yourself, nerd.”

 

\--

 

The redness on his ear went away after a couple of hours at least. Veronica practically pulled it off after she escorted him out of the principal’s office.

“What are you THINKING?! Are you trying to get expelled?!”

“No! I’m not!”

Lance pouted at her. He sat on her bed, rubbing his ear as she loomed over him. Lance wouldn’t look her in the eye. The fury of the McLain women was not a sight his eyes could take. Mortal men burst into flames under their gaze.

Veronica leaned back, rubbing her temple. “What gave you the idea that insulting a teacher was a wise decision anyway? A bully? A bet?”

Lance pouted, determined not to meet her stare. Veronica raised a brow.

“This wouldn’t have to be about that boy Hunk talks about, would it?”

Lance spun his head, face heating up. “What?! When did Hunk talk about—that is PRIVATE information what did he—“

“He was worried about you, so he just let me know what was up in case I noticed anything weird. Didn’t realize you’d go this far to impress someone.”

Lance sulked. Great. Now his sister was getting worried about him. He couldn’t fault Hunk though. In fact Lance felt a little swell of pride. Hunk was an amazing friend who was looking out for him.

Veronica’s face turned soft. “If...if there’s something you want to talk about with me Lance...you know you can tell me anything and...I’m there for you.”

Lance looked up at her. She had no judgment. No reservations. Just a concerned sister wanting to understand her little brother. 

Lance sighed. “Okay. I’m trying to see if I can be better than Keith, ‘cause maybe if I get him to notice me, or if I get better than him, maybe Shiro will notice me and I could really show everyone what I can do.”

…

Lance thought he was getting family bonding and solidarity here. He didn’t expect Veronica’s face to drop blank with surprise, blinking at him. He also didn’t like the fact she stayed silent for a very, very long time. 

“What?!”

“Oh! Oh, it’s, nothing I just…” she waved her arms, like she was attempting to cancel out the awkwardness. “I just thought...this was going a very different direction, but...but never mind it’s cool. Forget about it.”

Lance quirked his brow. Veronica looked flustered and embarrassed and he  had no idea why. All he had said was he was competing with Keith to try and get some deserved attention. He didn’t realize that was cause for genuine sisterly concern.

She immediately composed herself, coughing out the uneasiness in her voice. She looked at him, more understanding in her eyes. “So, is this what you’ve picked for your ‘drive’? A rivalry with another student?”

Lance blinked. He never thought about it that way before. At least, he’d thought trying to impress Shiro was his drive to success. Then again, it’d almost been a year and Lance hadn’t ever talked to his hero before. Ever. What he HAD done plenty of was finding every way to try and one up Keith, only to get one-upped in return.

“I...I guess? At least, he’s been such an itch since the first day of class and I’ve been doing everything I can to scratch him.”

Veronica smiled, chuckling lightly. “Well, I guess that’s not a bad motivator. But can we avoid copying any bad boy attitudes please? My darling sunshine of a brother doesn’t need that kind of negative mojo darkening his personality.”

Lance smiled shyly. In hindsight, yeah, it was a stupid move. And he was just happy his sister had a bit of a rebellious streak as well; she had slipped some salt into Iverson’s coffee one year on April Fool’s after he announced final exams would be entirely comprehensive. 

Veronica put her hands on her hips. “Maybe instead, you should find out what drives this kid, and emulate that instead. Get to know him to know what you need to do in your own life.”

“What? You mean, actually be FRIENDLY with the guy?”

“Eh? Friends? Rivals? Study buddies? Just maybe taking an amiable approach versus an antagonistic one might work out better for you.”

Lance frowned. He didn’t think he was being an antagonist. Granted he didn’t think Keith paid him the time of day enough to even notice. So, maybe Veronica was onto something. Maybe trying for a little….. _ geugh _ ...friendship, might give Lance some better luck.

 

\--

 

_ Present day _

 

Lance hiked through the forest, passing over some rotting logs and small gravel slopes. The planet reminded him of the time his family took a camping trip to the mountains. The ground was damp and there was a smell in the air that stunk up Lance’s nose, but he couldn’t place what it was or where he remembered smelling it. He hopped over a rocky stream, getting a little enjoyment out of splashing a foot in the water. 

Through the leaves above, he could see the rose colored sky, wishing he was out of the forest so he could catch the setting sun. For the longest time, one of his favorite astrological phenomena he loved were sunsets. Some people thought that was corny. Lance always viewed it as being able to witness the life of one star in the universe, every day, without fail. Scientists could speculate and search and zoom in on other stars and other galaxies, and now they could travel wherever they wanted to see them. But Lance always appreciated the certainty, the stability, of living on a planet and being able to have one star in his life.

Lance tapped his com. Static still. Pidge had said getting in closer proximity with their helmets would connect their transmissions. He just wasn’t sure how close. Hopefully, Keith wasn’t stupid enough to start meandering around like he did when he would get antsy. Almost reminded Lance of Kaltenecker.

A rustle from the trees shot Lance’s vision to the side. He stopped, keeping quiet. Scanning the area around and behind him, he didn’t see anything move, but he was sure his ears caught on something. Not only that, his stomach gave a churn like it did with the Maltean invasion. Not nearly as strong, but his gut was telling him something wasn’t quite right. He summoned his bayard, the blaster humming to life as it materialized. Hopefully, he wouldn’t need it.

  
\--

 

Keith looked up. It was probably a dumb idea. The cliff was a face of slick and slate. But it beat sitting around worrying about his team.

He reached an arm up, grabbing a handhold and hoisted himself up, landing his foot on a small rock. He reached up again, fingers barely gripping another hold, climbing up the cliff side. A light breeze blew through the chasm, chilling him through his armor due to the humidity. His muscles strained as he gripped another rock. He thought of telling Pidge to make armor that had sticky palms and shoe soles, specifically for moments like this. 

He reached for another rock, but it crumbled in his grasp, sending his arm downwards and knocking off his balance, pushing his muscles to grip with just one hand and leg support. He took deep breaths, composing the adrenaline. He regained another handhold, and lifted himself up further.

He was about halfway up the cliff, when he heard a *bzzzzt* of clearing static in his ear.

“zzz-lo?-zzzzzz-can-zzzz-eith-zzzzzzzz-Keith can yo-zzzzzzz-ay if you can hea-zzzz-espond you dummy.”

Keith eyes went wide, muscles contracting with surprise. “Lance!” He shouted. And then his muscles turned to jelly. Not good when you’re gripping for dear life on a cliff.

The shock and relief went through Keith so quickly, his grip slipped on a wet rock. His lost his footing, and clambered to try and grip the rock again. Another rock popped out of the face, and Keith tumbled down. In a moment of sheer brilliance, Keith tried to land on the ledge with some stability, turning his legs down to see if he could roll with the fall. He misjudged how fast the ledge came, and his right leg impacted on it with a sickening *CRUNCH*, sending a bolt of pain rushing up his calf and thigh, making a connection with his brain berating “YOU IDIOT!”

Keith shouted. He didn’t even try to grip his leg try and comfort it. His face scrunched and contorted as he attempted to get some breaths in to control the pain. 

“Keith! What’s wrong?! What happened?! Are you there?!”

Lance’s voice came in complete sentences now, if still a little distorted. Keith felt a little embarrassment creep up his neck. He took a mental note to work on his composure, which seemed to be diminishing as of late.

“I’m, I’m good Lance. I’m here.” Keith grunted, nervous to try and move his body.

He heard a sigh of relief in his ear. “Whew. Good. What the heck was that anyway?”

Keith looked up. He wasn’t impressed with himself, only making it halfway up the cliff before crumbling. “Thought I had a good idea. Turns out I didn’t. I’m on a ledge of some giant chasm and the Black Lion is stuck in it. Tried climbing out and fell. Think I busted my leg.”

“WHAT THE HECK KEITH?! HOW STUPID CAN YOU BE?!”

It was only through the speakers, but Keith felt the gust of exasperation blow through his head. He shut his eyes tight, Lance’s voice still ringing after he was done.

“Ugh. You  _ seriously _ have a problem with just staying still, don’t you.”

“Didn’t know if anyone else was okay. What else was I supposed to do?”

Lance looked out over his path. A clearing came into view, boulders dotting the next few hundred yards.

“I guess not much. But man, still pretty dumb.”

Keith huffed, preparing himself to sit up against the cliff. He hissed, his leg flaring angrily at his movements, but he was able to get himself upright. “How’re,  _ rrgh _ , how’re the others? Did you see them?”

“Pidge and Hunk are fine. They went off to find Shiro. Can’t reach the Atlas and none of the Lions are working yet. So we’re gonna regroup and work out a plan.”

Keith shut his eyes tight, his body going through another wave of pain. “You...you’re coming to get me all by yourself? That’s a pretty confident move.”

Lance pursed his lips and upturned his nose. “Hey, I am perfectly capable of a solo rescue mission. Which you just turned this into, getting yourself hurt, genius.”

“Heh. My savior,” Keith sighed. It was only a tease,. He trusted Lance with his life. He always had. While the blinding pain of his leg racketed his mind, the fact that he was hearing Lance’s voice was like a light through the fog. He just wished Lance would have been a little quicker. Definitely would’ve compelled Keith to sit still and wait.

“Yeah, well...let’s see how much saving I can do.”

Lance’s voice dipped. His job just got a bit harder. Not only did he have to find Keith, but now the guy was stuck in a ditch somewhere, AND he just broke his leg, which Lance figured was going to make getting him out of a ditch much harder. Lance looked back out to the rock field ahead, a long path that dipped down into more quarries. He looked down at his gauntlet scanner. A black dot blinked slowly, showing where the Black Lion was. Lance had made it about a third of the way there. He sighed, righting his shoulders as he continued forward.

“Just sit tight Keith, I’m coming to get ya. Not like you can do too much else.”

“Nope. Most I can do right now is listen to you ramble.”

Lance heard the smile in Keith’s voice. It pulled at his own. “You sure you don’t mean sagely wisdom? Again, who was the one who thought climbing a sheer cliff was the best idea?”

“Yeah...maybe I should revoke my leader title...with my ‘brilliant’ ideas…”

Lance paused, not sure what kind of comeback that warranted. Keith sounded despondent. Also tired. Lance felt his heart tug a bit, a little unsettled. “I didn’t say that...Stay with me, samurai, don’t need you passing out from pain.”

Keith’s chuckles came out airy. Lance was pretty sure Keith could handle a busted leg. He just didn’t want Keith to stop talking. He actually felt a bit better, knowing someone was waiting for him.

“Don’t worry sharpshooter,” Keith groaned, “I’m not going anywhere.”

 

\--

 

Vines. More vines. Some weird fruit he wasn’t going to touch. More vines.

Hunk and Pidge’s trek through the forest remained uneventful. And long. And tiring. Hunk forgot how being a paladin meant walking. A lot. Especially walking when you didn’t want to. His legs screamed at him, protesting their use after years of simple standing in a kitchen. They definitely didn’t appreciate the extra motion. 

“How...hah…how much further?” Hunk whined.

“Maybe about halfway. As long as our path stays relatively flat.” Pidge kept her nose to her tracker. Hunk knew when she got into a groove, it was best to leave her to her thinking.

He looked up. The canopy of vines in the trees overhead blocked out most of the sky’s light. He thought about how he ended up here. A week ago he was working on the menu for the anniversary on Altea. He was checking over recipes and ingredients with Shay. He laid out the game plan for service that night with Vrepit Sal. He was picking out what cocktails were going to be offered at the bar. 

Now, he was sweating, trudging through the forest on some unknown planet with limited communication, and stranded for who knew how long. Old Hunk would be visibly terrified, freaking out and babbling about every way they could get into more trouble than they already were. Current Hunk was still freaking, but he kept it internal. Over the years, he’d gained more confidence in his teammates, and himself, to trust that things would turn out okay. They’d been through so much hardship, but always came out fine in the end. Hunk had adapted the attitude that a situation might start out sticky like a stubborn ball of dough, but as long as he kept kneading and pushing through, he knew he and his friends would come out a-bread.

Speaking of his friends, Hunk imagined how Lance looked as he left to go after Keith. There was a confidence on his face that Hunk hadn’t seen in awhile. A determination that made him look years younger, erasing exhaustion lines and squaring his shoulders. Hunk wondered how long they could keep him looking like that.

“I hope Lance is okay. Wonder how he’s doing?” Hunk didn’t really offer it as a direct question, but he didn’t mind starting a conversation that could turn into some Lance teasing, specifically about Lance and a certain...companionship, he and Pidge were betting on.

“...Yeah…”

...Ummm. 

Pidge’s voice was tiny. Aching. Not at all like someone he knew THRIVED on tease talk.

“You okay Pidge?”

She perked, as if she realized the pitifulness in her words. “Oh, yeah, I’m great. Just walking through the woods. Looking for our friends. Peachy.”

Hunk frowned. Despite the jolts of pain in his legs, he jogged ahead of her, halting in her path and crossing his arms. Pidge looked up at him, an innocent and confused frown popping on her face.

“Nope. No more hiding feelings. We’ve had three years of that already with not one but two doofuses, and I’m not letting the smartest member of our team join that club. What’s on your mind Pidge?”

Pidge’s brow creased even more, realizing she’d been found out. Hunk didn’t mean to bring up any uncomfortable feelings, especially considering their current situation. But for too long, his best friend had covered up his pain and feigned happiness. Hunk would rather have his friends let it all out rather than let anything fester, knowing that the end result was a depression that affected everyone.

Pidge’s shoulders dropped, her head hanging slightly. “I...I was...thinking about Lance, I mean. It’s just. I feel...SO BAD. Because, I didn’t even think to realize how bad it had gotten. And I’ve been keeping myself so busy and hardly ever checked in. I was so superficial every time I would visit. I never stopped to think it could be getting worse for Lance and I just feel like...like I failed...as a friend. Like I know I could’ve been there for him more or tried to comfort him but I didn’t and I just...I just…”

Tears dropped to the ground. Hunk slowly reached his arms around her, but squeezed strong with a warm hug. She sobbed, small under him. 

“I know Pidge. I know. But, you’ve done lots over the years. I’ve seen it. And Lance appreciates it, really. Visiting him, getting his mind off things, that’s been HUGE. You may think you haven’t done anything, or that you could’ve done more. But, what matters now is how we head forward. And personally, I think we’re in a really good spot to do that. I think we’ve gotten over a considerably high hump. So let’s be there for him with the downhill slope. ‘Kay?”

She nodded, her helmet scratching Hunk’s chestplate. He let her sobs even out, sniffles getting fewer and far between. After a minute, she detached from him, rubbing the excess water out of her eyes. She smiled up at him. “Thanks Hunk.”

“Never a problem, Pidge. But really right now we should focus on finding Shiro. Who knows what he’s gotten himself into.”

“Right. Plus, Lance probably has Keith...WELL taken care of.”

Hunk raised his brow, happy to hear the deviousness back in her voice. “Oh yeah? And what makes you think that, smarty pants?”

Pidge offered a similar sly smile. “Well, he did volunteer to go find him. No protesting. No complaining. Just a resolute duty to find our aloof leader.”

“Oh. That so? Any other particular reason?”

“I have my calculations, but I’m still waiting on a few...reactions, before I collect any more data.”

“Hmph. Not gonna share?”

“Nope. Don’t want to disappoint you even more when you lose.”

“Who said I’m losing?”

“Science Hunk. Science says you’ll lose.”

 

\--

 

“And that leaves a 26.19 percent chance of the planet exploding on you, should a chemical reaction occur with any orange juice mixed into the atmosphere that you may have brought to quench your thirst. You were sure to leave all citrus drinks on the Atlas, right.”

“Yes...yes Slav. I don’t have any orange juice with me.” Shiro whimpered. For the past hour, his ears had been subjected to a constant stream of possibilities of how their mission would go south due to drinking OJ, stepping too hard on the ground and getting his foot stuck, and rubbing his head and patting his stomach. Or was it the other way around? Shiro shook his head. He didn’t want to care. His mind was a mess of probabilities that outnumbered his stats class back at the Garrison. And he was getting to his limit.

“Good, and I don’t suppose YOU remembered to put on your deodorant this morning? I was gracious enough to give everyone their own personal stick so no one had to go without—“

And the meter popped.

“Hey Slav? Maybe you could go check on Coran? Curtis? Someone who could give an update on the Atlas’s status? Anything?”

“Not to worry! They told me someone would be coming in with updates on the progress of their system checks and reroutes.”

“Great!”

…

…

“...Well, is anyone coming?”

Slav scoffed. “They didn’t tell me WHEN they would come. Obviously. Only when they had an update. And since no one is here, there are no updates. So, we’ll wait! But that’s perfect, since going slower leaves less of a chance for someone to trip over their shoelaces when delivering the updates, meaning they won’t break an arm and land on their face—“

Shiro’s eye twitched so much that he wondered if it was going to permanently squint after all of this was over. He put his face in his hands, silently reminding himself the Atlas uniform had boots without laces.

 

\--

 

Lance’s feet brushed over more gravel, the dust kicking up into his nose. Around him, the boulders looked much bigger and rose a good ten feet above his head, towering over him. He kept his blaster out, the unease still bubbling in his stomach. His eyes and ears were peeled, picking up any sounds or movement. But, it was quiet. A little too quiet for his liking.

He heard another groan come from his com. Lance’s mind went straight to caretaker mode. “How’re you holding up?”

Keith had his eyes shut. As long as he sat still, the pain wasn’t too bad. He didn’t want to get too comfortable though. Sooner than later, he’d have to get up and move, an unpleasant thought that was better left at the back of his mind for now. “I’m holding, if that means anything. Seriously, it’s not that bad. Leg is facing the right way and everything.”

Lance could tell Keith was trying to make light of the situation. He only did that when he was in more pain than he was letting on. Lance didn’t realize he had taken that mental note about Keith until now. 

“Man, you sure like to play the tough guy, don’t you? But then again, you’d rather let fists fly than let your mouth run.”

“Whaddya mean?”

Lance paused. What DID he mean? The words just kinda came out of him. He took a second, recollecting something, before answering. “I guess...you’ve just always been the action guy. You don’t tell people how you feel. And no judgment, you do you. Guess it’s just something I noticed, watching your back all the time.”

He heard a crackly chuckle through his com. “Ha ha, yup. You’ve always had my back.”

Lance frowned. “Not exactly what I was getting at, but, okay.”

“What does that mean?”

There was a genuine, curious concern behind Keith’s question. Lance halted, partially surprised by it, but also just as partially,  _ figures _ .

“Just, not all of us were gifted with universal talent. Some of us had to get lucky. Or, I guess wait in the wings, so to speak.”

“Lance, I’m having a hard time following...something on your mind?”

Lance had a lot in his mind and he didn’t know why. Memories bubbled to the surface that he hadn’t thought about in a long time. Mainly because they involved some animosity between a certain someone. In fact, thinking back on it, he was shocked he never brought up any old school days in three years of visiting with Keith on Altea. It was just a subject they never delved into.

“Lance?”

Lance perked. Keith’s voice was like an ear worm squirming in his brain, a little timid, but voicing his uneasiness in an attempt to help. He was trying, Lance knew. Keith didn’t push nearly as much as he used to, a trait Lance appreciated after the years he’d been through.

“I mean, just reminiscing. Some of the good old days when I was a devilish whipper snapper. Back at the Garrison.”

“Oh, right...we were in the same class?”

Lance hated how sincere Keith was. It made it hard to get angry at him for not remembering being classmates. He huffed out his indignation. “Yes, Mullet, we were.”

“Well...maybe I could reminisce with you, seeing how I don’t remember...not like I can do much right now anyway.”

Lance raised his brow, a little entertained by the idea. Plus, Keith sounded...interested? Lance had a thought of the pain rushing to Keith’s head and making him delusional. Usually Keith would tell Lance to shut up.

“Uh, okay? Well, what do you want to hear.”

There was a small pause. Short enough not to be awkward, but long enough that there was some thought put into it.

“What were you thinking about, when you said you were watching my back?”

A tiny shiver went up Lance’s back. It wasn’t like it was an unpleasant memory. But if Keith didn’t remember ANYTHING during their Garrison days, it was definitely an awkward one. Lance breathed out.

“Well...I’ll just start by saying you’re a bit of a jerk for not remembering this one...”

 

\--

 

_ 6 months before Kerberos _

 

Lance saw the bump coming before he felt it, but that didn’t mean he didn’t still flinch.

The cadets were going through another simulator exercise today. Lance tried his best, but setting up Hunk with ginger ale, antacids, and belly rubs, still didn’t prep him enough for another day of virtual flying. He could hear Hunk’s heaves through his coms, which unfortunately meant all their classmates could hear too. Lance felt bad, but his attention was also divided between Hunk and another certain someone. 

Keith had almost made it a habit. Every time he goofed off in the simulator, Keith just had to tap Lance. Which, was continuing to get on Lance’s nerves. It also wasn’t helping his overall plan.

For months, he’d been trying to devise a way to give Keith some kind of peace offering, along with keeping up with him in classes generally. But the guy was so cocky and closed off, every plan Lance thought of went back to the drawing board. Hunk had suggested just saying hello, but Lance knew that’d just be met with a grunt.

He didn’t pay attention to what Iverson said over the com, but heard Keith answer him. “Just testing my controls. Stick’s loose.”

Lance was getting to that point in the day where he was getting tired of Keith’s shenanigans. He didn’t usually voice his disdain, but he decided today was a good day to get mad about it.

“Keep this up, and you’ll be stuck as a cargo pilot.”

Lance felt like that was a good retort. Short. Simple, might teeter Keith off his high horse a bit. Just so he knew he shouldn’t be a hot shot with an ego.

Lance couldn’t expect the cascade of events to follow.

“Yeah Keith, you’re gonna get us in trouble.”

Oops.

Griffin’s voice came on the coms, agreeing with Lance. Lance wasn’t super cozy with Griffin, but he also felt uneasy that they were apparently on the same page. 

Lance vaguely caught Shiro’s directions for their next maneuver, his brain still trying to repulse the thought of agreeing with James Griffin, when he felt Keith zoom by the formation, Lance’s screen showing his plane flying out of sight. 

“Keith!” The entire class felt the same annoyance as Lance. And Lance didn’t want to know how badly they were going to get into trouble.

 

\--

 

Iverson was MAD.

And Lance couldn’t blame him. Keith was acting like a doof. Not only that, thanks to Keith’s showboating, he just condemned the class to three full weekends of drills. While he hated the compulsory-ness of it, at least it would give Lance a chance to work on his maneuvers. Maybe he could casually ask Shiro to give him pointers or something. Or maybe he could rig the partner exercises and get paired with Keith, finally showing him what Lance could do.

Lance’s daydreaming got a wake up call, hearing Keith’s voice, “my pleasure.”

Looks like he and Griffin were having a conversation. Lance looked over, as he noticed a few other classmates doing the same. 

Griffin cocked his head. “We all know the only reason you’re here is because of Shiro.”

_ Yikes _ . Well, Lance knew that was true. But it wasn’t like him and Veronica, where Lance figured his sister probably begged to get him in the Garrison. Sure Shiro got Keith in, but even Lance could see it was Keith’s talent keeping him there.

“I can outfly anyone in this building,” Keith retorted.

Uh,  _ psssh _ . Lance mentally scoffed. He was good, but Keith hadn’t gone up against HIM yet. Sure test scores were one thing, but Lance also had a plan of coaxing Keith into a simulator one night and going head to head, mano a mano, and really seeing who was better.

Lance felt the room drop five degrees before Griffin said, “Oh yeah? Is that what mommy and daddy told you before—“

Lance mentally felt the punch two ways. One, he could hear it loud and clear, and almost feel how much it was probably hurting Griffin. Two, he felt it in his own knuckle, white with how much anger was in his own mind as much as on Keith’s face.

Keith dived down to give Griffin another one, before Iverson was on his back, dragging him away. Another student teacher rushed to Griffin’s side, helping him up. Iverson pulled Keith out of the simulation room, Griffin following in tow.

Another instructor led the class out, Lance grabbing Hunk’s attention for a quick second, both boys painted with nervousness. 

 

\--

 

Since Iverson had to deal with discipline, class got postponed until later that evening.

Hunk decided to go study in the library, leaving Lance roaming the halls to find something to fill his time. He debated going back in the simulator.  Maybe he could actually get some practice in with no one around.

He was about to turn another corner before he heard a voice come from the other side.

“—not gonna get anything but a slap on the wrist. I’m banking that Iverson wants to expel him, but Shiro won’t let ‘em.”

Lance stopped. Griffin’s voice echoed in the hall. Peering around the corner, Lance could see him talking to a group of kids. He had an ice pack on his cheek, pressed against his growing bruise. 

“If I were Shiro, I’d be catching all those red flags. The kid is trouble. If he can’t even act on a team, he’s not gonna be a pilot, period.”

Lance gulped. They were bad mouthing Keith. Sure Griffin just got punched by the guy. But Lance preferred not to have that bad mojo today. He turned on his heel—

“Plus, he’s just some orphan brat from the desert. Shiro had an entire class of ace pilots to pick from, and he chooses that sandy hobo as his favorite.”

Lance stopped dead in his tracks. His impulse control went out his mental window.  _ This is crazy _ .  _ DON’T DO THIS.  _ But Lance felt his feet turn. He felt himself walk around the corner. He also felt the biggest, cockiest, and most sarcastic grin pull on his cheeks. He barked out three loud, unhumored laughs.

“HA! Ha! Ha. Good one Griffin! Talking about Keithy boy, are we?”

Griffin raised his brow. Then flatlined, unimpressed. “Oh, McLain.”

“Ha! Yeah. I mean you’re right, Keith just kinda came outta nowhere, didn’t he? Plucked right out of the desert by Shiro, no formal training or whatnot.”

“Uhh, yeah?”

Lance scratched his neck. “Yeah. And it’s really weird. Like, since he’s been here, he’s topped every score, beaten plenty of old records, heck he’s the closest to Shiro’s high record on the speed test. Like, what’s up with that?”

Griffin squinted. Lance took a little pride that he was sure he was actually making James Griffin confused. Lance steeled himself.

“Yeah. Guess that’s hard to take, having him be so good at everything. I know it is for me. I’ve been trying to beat his scores since day one.” Lance didn’t appreciate Griffin’s skeptical eye. Sure Griffin was the one who got in fights with Keith, but Lance was just as much a rival. At least in Lance’s mind.

“But,” he continued, “I guess some of us like to pick on the stuff we can’t change about ourselves, and decide to bully people for where they came from, rather than taking a look at your sorry self and wondering if it’s you that’s gotta change.”

Lance flinched instinctively, already feeling Griffin grip at his collar. He slowly opened an eye. Griffin had murder on his face. Lance could see his temple bulge and neck contract from the strain. Lance decided to do something else that was stupid. He opened both eyes, looking at Griffin dead center. He set his jaw with so much bitterness he could taste it. But he didn’t care. If Griffin got physical it didn’t matter. Keith may have gotten to punch him with his fist. Lance was happy enough getting to punch Griffin with his words. 

Griffin snarled, but jerked his hand away, brushing past Lance with the group of students behind him. 

Lance gasped the sweet air of relief, clutching his heart. How CRAZY was that?! He stood up to the JAMES GRIFFIN!

…

He stood up to James Griffin.

On Keith’s behalf.

Lance wasn’t sure what to do with that information, but he would be sure to recount the entire epic tale next time he ran into Hunk.

He started down the other hall, turning the corner—

Keith stood wide eyed, mouth closed, and fists clutched at his side, squared right in front of Lance. 

Lance’s own eyes peeled wide. His mouth hung open. A whine so quiet it could be used for hearing tests escaped his throat. His muscles were frozen solid as his face tried to melt them, red traveling up his neck to his temple.

Maybe eight, nine full seconds of silence passed between them, just staring at one another. Both still. Like deer waiting to see if something was moving before deciding to run off.

Well, Lance had been brave for most of the day anyway.

He dropped his shoulders, raising a hand. “Hey, ma—“

Keith about-faced, walking down the hall. Lance gawked, mouth going back to its hanging position.  _ Seriously _ ?! Just like that?! Lance knew Keith heard all that and he was just leaving without saying a word?! Man, how hard was it for a guy to impress another guy when even defending said guy’s honor wasn’t even enough to get him to acknowledge—

“Hey.”

Lance perked. He looked forward. Keith’s back stood in the center of the hall. The lights from ahead were blocked by Keith’s form. Until he turned, and his face glowed. Still a bit of a scowl on it, but glowed nonetheless.

“...thanks.”

He turned, trudging off down the hall.

Lance probably stood in that exact spot for a solid minute, wondering what the heck just happened. His final thought was…. _ HOLY CROW! _

Lance turned around, booking it to the library. This was a story he could not wait another second to tell Hunk.

 

\--

 

_ Present day _

 

Keith was silent for a long time after Lance had finished. Good. It gave Lance time to concentrate on walking through the sloping quarries and down into another field of boulders. The atmosphere above didn’t churn nearly as much as before, but Lance still couldn’t see any sign of the Atlas coming in for a rescue. As he got closer to the Black Lion’s location, Lance felt the stench of whatever was in the air grow stronger. He scrunched his nose, but still couldn’t place the familiarity of the smell.

Lance heard a tiny breath in his com.

“...that... WAS you, wasn’t it?”

“Uhh, yeah. Not like I made up a story about another Cuban kid who watched you punch someone in the face and then chew out the same kid for being a bully. So you can kinda see my offense when someone doesn’t recall something like that years later. Well, or at least when all you remember was that I was a cargo pilot.”

Lance kept his tone sarcastic, but Keith still quieted down after that. He took about ten seconds before he spoke again.

“...Sorry. Sorry I forgot…”

Lance wasn’t expecting the smallness of Keith’s voice. Lance’s nerves crept more on the edge, hoping the reluctance was due to his recounting epic tales and not Keith’s injury. He almost regretted bringing up the memory in the first place.

“...I just...I kinda numbed myself from the Garrison. Not exactly my favorite memories…”

Lance raised an eyebrow. “Whaddya mean?”

He wouldn’t get an answer.

A growl to his back spun Lance around, aiming his rifle at a large boulder behind him. All his senses went on the alert. The terror in his chest made it hard for him to even out his breaths. His heaving must have been louder than he thought.

“Lance? You okay? What’s wrong?”

Keith’s concern was touching in his ear, but Lance didn’t need a distraction from whatever just got the jump on him. 

Slowly, from behind the boulder, a mass of fur and wrinkled skin prowled into view. A low grumble bounced in its throat. Lance gulped.

“Lance. What happened?”

Keith was insistent. Lance did his best to hide the terror in his voice.

“Don’t know how to tell you this, but I’ve got what looks like a giant mole crossed with a cat, with very big, sharp teeth looking right at me.”

“What?!”

He couldn’t describe it any more than that. The beast was at least the size of a Great Dane, but the with back end of a giant feline. The front legs were thick and ended with two large, bear-like webbed paws, but the claws were longer. It’s head was a mass of muscle, with black fur surrounding a thin snout with a nose that looked like a star. It had no eyes, or at least its eyes were so small the thing didn’t bother wasting energy opening them. What it did have were a set of snarling pearly daggers of teeth, pointed right in Lance’s direction. 

Lance did his best to keep still, but his bayard still shook in his arms. His sweat dripped down his neck giving him even more chills. Arming his rifle, he jumped as another beast crawled out from another boulder, making it two on one.

“Oh, perfect.”

“What now?” Keith’s voice was filled with anxiety.

“Oh, just that I’m the third wheel now. Another one showed up.”

“Well, just see if you can back away slowly.”

“Keith I’ve seen puma documentaries. When an animal is baring its teeth at you and approaching slowly and licking its lips, I don’t think it’s more scared of you than you are of it.”

The molecats’ growls rumbled louder, then softened considerably. Both lowered their big heads and raised their rears. One twitched eagerly. 

Lance had three tics.

His arm flicked downward and he pulled the trigger. A laser shot the ground, blasting dust and dirt all around the molecats. Squeaky shrieks of distress came out of them both. They pawed at their faces, soot filling their noses. Lance didn’t give any time to celebrate, turning on his heel and sprinting as fast as he could. 

He ran through the boulders, huffing and puffing out the stench in the air that was filling his lungs. He chanced one look behind himself, seeing nothing coming from behind. His relief didn’t last long, as movement from above him shot his vision to the side. One of the molecats was hopping over the tops of the boulders, catching up to him. Lance shot his blaster at it, hitting either too high or just at the top of the boulder. The molecat jumped down and out of sight.

Lance’s mind went on guard as he tried to anticipate where the thing was going to pop out next, when his foot caught on something ahead of him.

Bursting from the ground below, the other molecat shot up directly in front of Lance, jaws snapping as dirt flew in the air. Lance yelped, skittering to a halt to try and reverse his momentum. His face was saved, but the molecat’s teeth clamped onto his bayard, tearing it out of his grasp and tossing it away. 

Using the beast’s own weight against it, Lance turned as the molecat did, socking it in the snout with a solid punch, making it yipe and careen off to the side.  Lance dodged out of its way, quickly backing up. The molecat stood and shook its head, turning to snarl and showed its teeth back at Lance. It now stood between him and his bayard.

“Oh quiznak.” Lance cursed.

Then the growl started coming in surround sound, and he whipped his head behind, the other molecat approaching at his back.

“Double quiznak.”

“Lance, what’s going on?!”

“Could you be quiet for like two seconds Keith?! I’m trying not to die here!”

Keith didn’t like it. His nerves were on edge sitting in the chasm. He couldn’t see what was going on. He could only hear Lance’s distressed breaths and yells. That, and having a busted leg made him feel absolutely useless.

“Don’t worry man, I got this.”

His voice didn't sound like he “got this”.

Lance tried to back away between the two molecats, attempting to get both of them in his field of vision. The one that got the punch to the face looked particularly done with his shenanigans. 

Lance bumped his back. He felt a solid wall behind him, having lured himself to the face of one of the boulders. The molecats squared him off, cornering him. Lance gulped, his mind drifting to the fact he thought moles ate bugs and worms rather than people.

His gut felt like it was going to come up his esophagus. It twisted and churned with...wait…

It was the same feeling any time his powers acted up, except not nearly as violent. His hands felt hot, the energy in his center traveling to his fingers. The air crackled around him, a distinct smell of ozone taking over the awful smell in the air. Lance eyed the beasts. They still advanced, but Lance caught the curiosity and apprehension in their faces, their snouts snooting to get a whiff of the smell.

Lance felt the power empty from his belly and fill his hands completely, both of them glowing bright and sparking. He looked at the molecats, a victorious grin stretching on his face.

“Who likes barbecue?”

Lance thrusted his hands forward. His ears popped. A bolt of of hot electricity blasted out of them, striking the ground, boulders, and right in front of the molecats. The beasts squeaked and jumped, terrified by the sudden burst. Lance closed one fist and reared his hand back, shooting it out again for another bolt. The strike hit one molecat on its rear end, making it shriek. 

Lance felt pretty ecstatic, finally gaining the upper hand. That is, until the other molecat lowered its head to make an upward pounce, avoiding the bolts. Lance clenched his fist, concentrating his power, then punched the molecat in its snout with a little charge thrown in it. The beast blasted backwards, it’s nose charred from the electric punch.

Lance whooped, adrenaline keeping his mind alert. 

“Lance! Are you okay?! What’s happening?!”

Lance forgot he had a radio listener.

“Turns out I CAN shoot lightning from my fingertips! Allura was keeping all the good stuff from me! Ha! I got this Altean alchemy stuff in the bag!”

Keith blinked. It was the first time in a LONG time that Lance sounded cocky and overconfident. And very boisterous. And...Keith smiled. It was like a nostalgic song in his ears, one he hadn’t heard in awhile, but could still remember all the lyrics. 

The molecats shifted in front of Lance, slowly getting up after being shocked.

“Oh, you guys want more? I could give you something that may ‘shock’ you.”

Lance lowered his hand and moved them in a circle. A tiny ball of lightning started to form in its center. Lance wasn’t planning on aiming it at the molecats themselves (he wasn’t a total monster), but figured a large enough blast to their feet might make them scurry off.

The molecats stood, wobbling from the disorientation, and Lance lowered, preparing his attack.

A grumble from below began to shake the ground, making Lance’s knees quake. He looked down. Pebbles bounced and danced with the shaking. Bringing his eyes back up, he looked at at the molecats. Both were tensed and alert. Their noses twitched. Then, as if Lance didn’t exist, they ran in the opposite direction a couple of yards, before jumping and diving their claws into the earth, burying themselves underground. 

Lance blinked. His vision shook with the quaking. His teeth chattered as he tried to contact Keith.

“K-k-k-Keith. D-d-d-do you feel that?”

“Y-yes…”

Keith peered down the side of his ledge. A rumbling groan came from deep down within it. He looked at the Black Lion, shaking, but it thankfully was wedged enough that it shouldn’t fall.

Lance tried to keep his footing. He held his arms out for balance, but the increase of the stench in the air made him want to bring them to his nose. “Ugh, I feel like Hunk. Jiggling like this and having a nauseating stink in my nose is gonna make my breakfast come up.”

“Wait, you can smell that too?”

Lance ears burned. He thought it just might be a dead animal close by. Or just the atmosphere in general. He thought it would dissipate as he moved. But it didn’t.

“Yeah. Why?”

“‘Cause I’ve been getting whiffs of something coming from the bottom of this chasm. You’re saying it’s reaching that far?” Keith didn’t think it mattered, which is why he didn’t bring it up. He chalked the smell up to be some kind of rotten river he couldn’t see at the base of the cliff. But he distinctly felt brushes of the smell come up from below, mixing with the breeze. 

“Uh, yeah. It’s been smelly ever since I got out of the Lion. It’s like I kinda know what it smells like but I can’t—GAH!”

Another deep rumble shook Lance hard enough to topple him over. He bounced on the ground trying to right himself up.

Keith felt quake after quake, gripping to the wall best he could. His leg wailed with pain, shocks traveling up with each jolt. 

There was a pause in the air. A suspended tension. Then a blast of air shot out from out of the chasm. A force like a tornado gusted wind and gas high into the sky. 

Keith gasped. The stench ripped into his lungs and burned. The rushing air whipped at his form, wanting to pull him over the side. He heaved, his body craving oxygen, but only met with the gas.

“Keith!” He heard Lance’s distress crackle in his com. Barely. Keith struggled to raise his hand, but slapped the side of his helmet. The face mask dropped, and he inhaled sweet fresh air, coughing out the gas.

“Keith! Can you hear me?! What’s wrong?!”

Lance looked to the sky as he ran. A column of yellow gas and air about three hundred yards away gave him the perfect landmark to see where he was going. The stench in the air was amplified, no doubt thanks to that pillar of stink. 

Lance didn’t like hearing just the cough in his ear. He wanted...he needed to hear Keith’s voice. Something about this whole situation made him lose more and more patience with himself, just wanting to reach Keith and make sure he was alright.

Keith hacked up another burning lung. He could breathe again, but the irritation was still there, laboring his breaths. 

“I’m...haahh...I’m...alright…” his voice was wheezy. It hurt to talk. His head felt fuzzy, which at least numbed the pain in his leg.

...Wait. No that wasn’t good.

Lance sniffed the air again. The rumbling evened out. Looking up, he saw that the gas spiral twisted into the air, turning the warm sky into a sickly shade of yellow. He saw the cosmic storm overhead disappear behind it, like the gas was shielding the planet from it. His mind went back to the smell, the memory on the tip of his tongue. A family trip to the mountains on the coast. Hiking up black rocks and coal. Touring on top of…

“Volcanoes! This stuff smells almost like sulfur!”

Keith wished he had the mind to be proud of Lance’s epiphany, but his body had other priorities. His vision swirled. He tried to keep his head straight, pain and nausea making his body convulse. “Great...and I just inhaled it.”

“How much?”

Keith tried looking forward. His eyesight was tinged with red. He felt bile at the back of his throat. His lungs felt as though they were collapsing. The strength in his arms died. “Enough…”

Lance’s own breathing hitched. Keith sounded bad. And just made Lance’s job even HARDER than before. He pushed his legs, digging all he could to go faster.

“Hang on, man. I’m coming to get ya.”

 

\--

 

The rumbling receded, and Pidge and Hunk were able to get their balance back after the quakes that rocked the forest. Pidge took a look to the sky, watching the spire of gas rise. “Amazing. This planet’s natural gasses act as a shield from the upper cosmic storms. Maybe it keeps its atmosphere stable and stops any random electrical flares.” She looked down at her gauntlet computer. “And my signal is getting stronger. The gas must block the static interference from the storm as well.”

“...Yeah all I have in my head is a planet-sized version of that fart that Lance gave the other day.”

Hunk had his nose pinched, trying to block out the smell. Pidge shrugged, looking back down at her hand. “And it looks like we’re close to the Blue Lion. Come on!”

They dashed through the forest, the trees clearing. Coming out of it, they reached a large lake in the center of the clearing. Laying on the ground, the Blue Lion’s head half rested on a group of trees, while it’s hind legs sank into the lake.

Sitting on her paw, was Shiro, his leg bouncing.

“Shiro!” The duo expressed their elation as they ran over to him. Shiro’s eyes perked. His face morphed into what Pidge thought looked like sweet release. He ran over to them just as quickly.

“Oh thank goodness!” Shiro shouted. Then he ripped his helmet off and threw it on the ground. Pidge and Hunk jumped to a halt, surprised by the gesture. “YOU guys can talk to him now! I have been listening to his theories about fingernails, body odor, and the exact distance from your thumb to your pinky for the past two hours!”

Shiro heaved out exasperated breaths. His eyes were wide and pupils small. Pidge and Hunk eyed one another, unnerved by their senior getting a little unhinged.

“Uhh, Shiro, man,” Hunk approached, “you okay?”

“Just,” Shiro half sighed half growled out, “talk to him, please.”

Pidge quirked her eyebrow, but stepped over and picked up Shiro's helmet. A few scans later, she found the signal path in Shiro’s com, linking it with her own. Her speakers crackled to life.

“—to make it a 71.53 percent chance that when you use a body mist, INSTEAD of a stick, you lose the chemical build up of the solid—“

“Slav! It’s Pidge!”

“Oh! Really? Well maybe you’ll appreciate my comparison of the misting antiperspirants versus the traditional stick ones?”

“Ahh, not right now. How’s the Atlas?”

“They are still working on finding an opening in the storm. However, I noticed a spike of a natural gas emanating from the planet into its atmosphere. It would appear it has enough moisture that it’s dissipating the storm slowly, and allowing for more signals to be reached.”

“I noticed that too. You have an ETA on when you guys can come down?”

“Not long at all. In fact, I can finish up my theory on how in most realities, people actually only sleep with—“

“Okay no.”

Pidge hung up the connection, already sending up her signals so the Atlas could track them from above. She turned to the other two. “Well, we can head back the way we came to meet up with Lance and Keith. My guess is those two have themselves stuck in a ditch anyway.”

She handed Shiro his helmet, the guy reluctantly putting it back on his head. As the three turned, the ground in front of them burst, and three large molecats landed.

“Holy crow what’re those!”

Hunk didn’t get the chance to think about what they looked like, as the middle molecat ran and pounced, pinning him to the ground. It snapped next to his face, Hunk desperately trying to push it off. Suddenly, its weight shifted, the molecat flying off of him. Above, Shiro led with his shoulder, Hunk’s hero who shoved the beast away.

Hunk scrambled up. “Okay, guess we gotta deal with these guys first.”

He activated his bayard, his cannon materializing. Pidge brought out hers, the grappling blade flickered with electricity. Shiro charged his arm, tensing. 

The two other molecats separated, surrounding them. One dashed at Hunk. Hunk brought his cannon up, but the creature was too quick, so he just swung the cannon at its face, getting a yelp in return.

The other molecat ran at Pidge. She tried to intimidate it by slashing her bayard. The molecat only dodged and swiped its own paw. Pidge pirouetted and activated the grappling line. As is elongated, she grabbed the two ends and made a loop, tossing it over the beast’s neck. Using its head as a springboard, she jumped and flipped onto its back. The molecat bucked and hopped, Pidge grasping for dear life as she heard the snapping of jaws.

Shiro squared the molecat he punched. The animal prowled around him, waiting for an opening. It stopped, tensed its legs, then dashed, mouth open wide. Shiro offered his mech arm, the beast clamping down on it. The metal didn’t faze it, and it bit down harder. Shiro didn’t have the same pain receptors in his right arm, but he did sense the alerts signaling it was under extreme tension. He raised the arm and the creature in the air, then slammed them both to the ground. The molecat yelped and let go, but snarled again and jumped right back up. Shiro quickly knocked it to the side, but lost his footing and fell from the surprise attack.

Standing, He looked out to his team, struggling with their hungry adversaries.

He looked back over to his current enemy. The molecat jumped and dove straight into the ground, like a fox in the snow. A few seconds later, it burst again, this time a few feet from Hunk. Hunk had a split tic to realize it was there, then whapped it with his bayard.

Shiro huffed. “There’s gotta be something easier…”

He felt his left thigh tingle. Looking at it, he reached with his hand. A shock later and his bayard materialized. Gripping it, the device lit up and flashed. Shiro felt something latch onto his left gauntlet. The light stretched and ended at a point. It faded, and Shiro now held the base of a long cone. Blue blades spiraled up it, lights flashing between the rivets. He gripped the handle, and it spun with an electric whir. 

His bayard turned into a drill.

He looked back to his friends, struggling with the molecats. The one Pidge was riding kept trying to escape into the ground, but the excess weight on its back made it difficult to jump and burrow. 

Shiro looked at the beast. Then at his drill. He had an idea.

“Guys! Get those things in the ground!”

Pidge and Hunk perked, noticing Shiro’s new weapon, and nodded.

Pidge jumped off the back of her molecat, stomping down with her feet to spook it. Hunk shot lasers above the heads of his two molecats, both ducking their heads at the shots. All three made their jumps, and dug deep underground.

Shiro reared his bayard, the drill spinning to life, and struck the ground. The earth cracked and crumbled from it, dirt clumps flying and bursting to dust. Shiro heard the whine of a high pitched note, coming from the drill. The ring was loud, even in his ears, but also felt it vibrate down the drill and into the ground. 

Not a second later, three molecats burst from the earth again. They each pawed their faces, disturbed by the noise and vibrations from their supposedly safe environment. Not taking it anymore, the three ran off back into the woods. 

Shiro slowed the drill, the bayard reverting back to its idle state. Pidge and Hunk rushed to him.

“That was so cool! I can’t believe that actually worked!” Pidge was reeling, not quite sure how the molecats were offended by the drill, but eh, they weren’t clawed to death.

“Yeah,” Hunk agreed, “like now you’ve got a robo arm, and now a POINTY robo arm that can make holes in the ground, holes in walls… I guess you’ve just turned into a glorified woodpecker.”

Shiro smiled, appreciating their enthusiasm. Internally, he expressed his own. Having the black bayard lost to Zarkon years ago, and himself suspended in the Black Lion’s consciousness, he never got the chance to wield a bayard before. He’d always wondered what might appear for him; he’d always assumed a sword. But...he liked the drill. It could be used for close combat. A tool. And with its size, even a good cover in case he lacked a shield.

It suited him.

“Well, let’s go find Lance and Keith. Hopefully they haven’t run into those beasts.”

A grumble behind him whipped his vision around. Metal groaned and engines roared as the Blue Lion rose. Lights flickered and her eyes glowed. She yawned and the sound echoed across the lake.

“Yeah! Back in business baby!” Hunk shouted as Pidge jumped up and down. Shiro smiled up at his new companion. 

“Alright, then let’s get on board and get to the others. We’ll be able to group together more easily with an active Lion.”

“Don’t worry Shiro, we get the, ‘drill’.”

…

Hunk’s pun almost...ALMOST set off the same reaction Shiro had to Slav’s rambles. But he sighed it out, turning to board his Lion, Pidge following.

“No? Anyone? Just me?”

 

\--

 

The rocky path started to slope downward. Lance had to slow his steps to keep from slipping on the gravel, but he kept up the urgency in his speed regardless. While the air still smelled like an old bus depot, he kept his visor up, using the scent like a smelling salt to keep his focus, pushing him forward.

Heavy wheezes in his ear were also a good motivator.

“How’re doing buddy?”

A few more wheezes. A grunt. But no answer.

“ **Keith** .” Lance pressed, not wanting any nonsense right now. Also the fact he was just downright terrified.

“...Keith here…”

Keith croaked out his response, his words slow. Lance couldn’t remember what that park attendant years ago said about breathing in sulfur. He figured on an alien planet, inhaling strange gasses wasn’t great for the lungs. But he also didn’t want Keith losing consciousness when Lance would need his help to get him out of a ditch.

“Alright. I can’t have you passing out on me so I’m gonna need you to just keep talking, okay?”

There was a pause, but at least Keith answered this time. “...Yeah, ask the guy whose lungs are...are on fire…” Another pause. “...What...what about?”

“I don’t know. Tell me a story.”

“...Any requests?”

Lance pondered. After avoiding being those molecats’ dinner, he did have one thought nagging at the back of his mind. “Tell me what you meant by the Garrison being unpleasant.”

“...”

“Keith?”

“...Isn’t that one pretty obvious?”

It was, but Lance didn’t care. “Maybe. But I’m trying to keep you talking. And I want to hear it. Come on mullet I just poured out my heart to you. Least you could do is give me a trickle.”

An achy laugh. Lance felt himself smile a bit. He may have a busted leg and lungs on fire, but it sounded like Keith’s sense of humor was still in tact.

“...I...I mean...it’s not like it was a secret…”

And it wasn’t, Lance remembered. Even as Keith continued, he remembered  _ exactly _ was made the Garrison unbearable for Keith.

And, to a lesser extent, when it got much harder at school for Lance…

 

\--

 

_ Kerberos _

 

Lance and Hunk sat slack jawed in front of the TV. The news broke just as they were heading to bed. Three astronauts lost in space. Dead. The reporters called it pilot error.

Lance’s hero. Shiro’s error.

That couldn’t be possible. The star pilot of the Garrison. The best explorer of the century. No one with that title should ever have “error” next to their name.

After the silence came the shouts, then the theorizing, then some mild sobbing, leading to bed. Hunk snored loudly, but Lance laid awake, staring at the ceiling.

His goal, his dream of getting Shiro to notice him, had just gone up in smoke, light years away. Of course, he was heartbroken about the entire incident. Then, his mind shifted as his eyes drooped.

His last thought that night, was needing to find someone in class the next day.

 

\--

 

_ 5 days after Kerberos _

 

Keith finally showed up to class.

Lance was worried he dropped off the face of the earth. But seeing Keith walk into class lifted his spirits. Finally, he had someone he could casually enjoy the company of who was in the same boat—

Keith slammed his bag on the desk. He rested his chin on it, looking out the window. His eyes were dark. His shoulders were tense. He did not want to be there.

Lance raised a concerned brow. He knew Keith and Shiro were close. He saw it whenever they walked the halls together. Whenever Lance would see them sneak off to the hangars, most likely taking a pair of hover bikes out for a ride. Shiro might be...have been, Lance’s hero. But to Keith, Shiro was something much more.

And in class that day, Lance could see how small Keith could look. 

 

\--

 

_ 4 weeks after Kerberos _

 

Lance couldn’t keep track of the amount of times Keith had been called to the principal's office. It turned into a bit of a routine. The reasons stayed pretty consistent. A fight with Griffin or some other kid. More and more showboating or rebelling during simulations. Straight up ditching class. Back talking to teachers. It was like not having Shiro around was a missing restraint on Keith’s temper. 

Lance wanted to help, but had no idea how. Keith had steeled himself from just about everything and everyone. Lance came from a big family that expressed every emotion under the sun. He didn’t know how to handle someone who wouldn’t talk.

It was one particular day, that Lance tried.

Walking through the halls, Lance caught Keith sitting in a chair outside the principal’s office, again. He had a bruise on his lip and scuff marks near his brow. Lance was sure whatever fight he was in, Keith probably won it. But with his head hanging low, his eyes lacking any kind of light, Keith looked defeated.

Lance bit his lip, remembering his courage when he stood up to Griffin months ago. Taking a deep breath, he approached Keith.

“Hey, man.” Lance waved a hand, keeping his voice soft, as though coming across a baby deer.

Keith looked up. His face didn’t change much. But his eyes...looked desperate. Lance hadn’t really interacted much with Keith aside from their simulator classes or hallway smirks, but there was recognition on Keith’s face. He looked like he was reaching out for something. Lance would’ve like to know what, because he would’ve given it without hesitation.

Lance opened his mouth to continue, but a door opened, and a teacher came out of the office.

“Keith, we’ll see you now.”

Keith looked to her, then back to Lance, eyes a bit sadder. He rose, grunting, and turned to follow the teacher inside.

Lance stood there, his speech dying in his throat. He could’ve left. Could’ve gone to find Hunk and study. Could’ve gone to find his sister to sneak into the upper classmen simulation rooms. But, he found himself sitting down in the chair, outside the office, waiting. 

About thirty minutes later, sleep pulling at his mind from boredom, a slam of a door snapped him awake. Keith stormed out of the office, his movements rigid.

Lance shot to a standing position, but Keith hurried so fast down the hall, obviously not wanting to see anyone. Lance hung his head, wishing, maybe, he’d get a little more courage to speak up.

_ Tomorrow _ , he thought. Tomorrow he’d get it.

 

\--

 

_ 4 weeks and one day after Kerberos _

 

“I’m sorry to say Keith won’t be with us the rest of the year. He’s been having some difficulties in class and decided it was best to leave the Garrison.”

That... was bull. 

Keith wouldn’t just quit. Keith wouldn’t “decide it was best to leave”. Not the guy that followed Shiro. Not the guy who flew like a hawk. Not the next rising star of the Garrison.

The rumors spread like wildfire. Kids whispered at the lunch tables. In the halls. Between simulator exercises.

Keith was booted.

And Lance…

Lance didn’t really know what to do. But there was a lot that came from it.

The first thing was his grades started to slip. Even Hunk’s tutoring could only do so much. But class just seemed pointless and boring. The next thing was his simulator scores dropped. Lance was better than that, Veronica would tell him. The only problem was he didn’t have his standard there to copy and take pointers from anymore. Finally, he could see himself getting even cockier. He felt like there were shoes left in class that someone had to fill. Someone with that cool attitude that everyone admired. Lance tried, but it usually just came across as a big ego.

It was deep down though, that Lance felt something was wrong. He couldn’t even be truly happy when they did mid-semester evaluations, and he got moved up from cargo pilot to fighter. He acted like the tough guy in front of Hunk, but his insides still twisted. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. He was supposed to show him. Show everyone.

So. He’d do that.

He’d be the new show off.

He’d do it with Hunk, and that new kid on their team, Pidge Gunderson or whatever his name was.

He’d do it without Keith.

Because that’s all Lance could do.

 

\--

 

_ Present day _

 

Keith didn’t hear a peep from Lance through his entire recount of the Garrison. All he heard was the occasional scuffle of gravel and a hefty breath. He was impressed that he was able to tell it at all, his throat now coated in sandpaper. He breathed in deep, the fresh oxygen in his helmet soothing in his nostrils.

“S….so...in the end...I think I was just--*cough-cough*....just setting myself up...to get expelled. I think...I think it’s what I wanted…”

Lance frowned. The answer didn’t sit right with him. “So...you ran away?”

Keith froze. He’d heard those words before. A long time ago. Coming from the same person. In a very similar instance. His mind went back to how he felt at the Garrison. He was hurt. His best friend...his brother, had been pronounced dead. What was he supposed to do? Go through school and be a good boy following rules? Or go with his gut and fight for what he believed? Ever since he got the news about Kerberos, he felt lost. And the Garrison was just one giant maze he didn’t want to get stuck in.

He left because he couldn’t stay.

But.

Was that running away?

Lance must have sensed the hesitation, because he continued.

“Look, I know it hurt you, more than anyone, when Shiro was lost. I get it. It was tough. So, I understand you wanting to leave. And… I guess that’s like why you left for the Blades...you had your own things you were going through…”

_ WHOA _ ...okay. Keith did not realize they were doing  _ THAT _ right now. If Lance had wanted to keep Keith conscious, he could’ve just skipped to this. Because despite a shattered leg and shrinking lungs, he was wide awake.

“What I’m trying to say is...you’ve always followed your own arrow. You didn’t let anyone tell you what to do or where to go. And if you couldn’t find it, you’d go off searching for it. Which, is actually pretty cool.”

Lance wasn’t sure why he was bringing up some of their old, untouched issues. Maybe it was the heightened emotions after the molecat attack and the quake. Maybe it was the softness and sincerity in Keith’s voice, letting Lance himself be sincere. Maybe...maybe he finally wanted to give Keith that speech he planned years ago at the principal's office.

“Like. You’ve done some pretty impressive stuff, going your own way. You found Shiro and figured out how to find the Blue Lion. You found about your heritage and your FREAKING MOM after joining the Blades, so it worked out really well for you…...but…”

Lance stopped in his place. A light breeze blew. He was so focused on his words not even the sulfuric stench bothered him.

“...you may not have really known it...but...I kinda looked up to you. You sorta became my drive, at the Garrison, to do better. To work hard and be one of the best pilots. When you left...I had a hard time staying focused. It was like all my hard work was for nothing. I had no one to compare to. So, I got sloppy.”

Keith sat still. He absorbed every word. His heart was doing things he didn’t know it could do. It drummed hard. It fluttered. It flipped. Every word Lance said sent a little pin with an electric shock to his system. 

“And...when you left for the Blades...it all came back. Not having you around to know...I was doing better. That I could learn from you and succeed.”

And that was the dagger. Keith and Lance never, NEVER talked like this before. It was part of Keith’s original plan of emotional bandages that he could slap on Lance at anytime. This here, now, he realized, he had placed some on his own heart. 

And Lance was ripping them off one by one.

“But...I was never... _ really... _ upset that you left…”

...well that’s a surprise.

Lance hiked over a boulder, looking down a large slope that ended with a dip. “I guess, I was more angry with myself? ‘Cause, wherever you went was a place I couldn’t follow. Know that sounds corny but, I knew you had things you had to do. I just wanted to show you I was more than someone who was following you around, but, you kept leaving before I had a chance.”

…

…

…

Keith’s heart skipped. “Lance...I—“

“Hey! I think I see that chasm you were talking about!”

Lance was pretty sure it was the right one. His tracker showed the black dot beeping strong and, honestly, how many giant gorges were on this planet?

Lance ran down the rest of the slope, sliding as he got close to the opening. He pushed his legs, reaching the edge of the cliff and dropped to his knees. He scanned the drop, and sure enough, the Black Lion was stuck in the middle of the ravine. Squinting, he caught on to the faint glow of blue lights next to the cliff face; the lights of paladin armor.

“Keith!” Lance yelled, his voice echoed, carrying his relief throughout the gorge.

Keith looked up. It was tiny, but he could see the white glow of Lance’s smile beaming down at him. He smiled back, but his lungs scratched at him and he curled into a coughing fit.

Lance heard the hacks in his helmet. Man, Keith did not sound good. He looked around the chasm, trying to find any other ledges that led down to Keith’s. Nothing. And he had no rope. Maybe Pidge should’ve come with him. Her grappling hook would have been useful. He looked behind him. Nothing he could use unless he just wanted to toss rocks at Keith.

Lance sat on his bottom. He didn’t have time for this. Keith was coughing up his guts with a busted leg. Lance needed something NOW.

A twinge in his stomach made his midsection contract. He looked down at it. Rubbing his middle, he felt a light, airy bubble in his belly. His first thought was he was getting ready for another fart (as funny as that would be right now), but then his mind started to feel light. He felt as if gravity around him was dissipating. Like he could float in the air.

...Or…

“Keith! I have an idea!”

Keith flinched. He figured Lance already forgot they could still hear each other in their coms, and instead opted to yell at him from atop the cliff. “All ears.”

“I’m gonna use my Altean alchemy powers and make you float up the cliff!”

...The ledge underneath Keith got  _ very _ comfortable all of a sudden. “You sure you know how to do that?  _ Can  _ you do that?”

“Well...no. At least I’ve never done it before. But I’ve got a feeling it’ll work. Plus, what other options do we have?”

_ None _ , Keith knew. The Black Lion still wasn’t on and he couldn’t climb. But the idea of testing a power Lance only NOW discovered... _ you trust him _ , Keith thought.  _ You trust him. It’s crazy, but you trust him. It’s a tiny bit terrifying, but you trust him. _

_ He deserves your trust. _

Keith took in a deep breath, his chest on fire. He braced his body, the twitching sending shocks to his leg. “Okay. Just, try to be quick.”

Lance clapped and rubbed his hands together. He raised them over the chasm, his palms facing down to Keith. He shut his eyes, concentrating. Maybe it was just his brain, but he imagined putting Keith in a bubble. Like one of those cartoons where a character would be underwater and get placed in a air bubble, and start floating to the surface. He felt his hands get warm, a tingle in his palms.

Below, Keith felt a heat surround his body. It mildly soothed his broken leg, and then he started to jerk. He felt his form separate from the ground, weightlessness taking over his senses. He panicked slightly, and shook his arms. The sudden lack of gravity shocked him, and his leg screamed, leading him to do the same. The opposition startled Lance. His concentration broke, and Keith plopped back down on the ledge, the impact on his butt traveling down to his broken bone.

“EASY Lance!”

“I can’t concentrate if you’re squirming like that!”

They pouted at each other. Even when both of them were desperate to get to each other, they both found time for their habitual bickering.

A low rumble under their bodies peeled their eyes open wide.

The shaking in the ground started slow, but they could feel it grow, making small rocks around them jitter. 

Lance looked down at Keith, lost.

Keith looked up at Lance, hoping he could see the faith Keith was trying to give him.

“You’ve got this, Lance.”

And that’s all he needed.

Lance placed his palms out again, keeping them as still as possible. He imagined the bubble again, gently, raising Keith up. 

Keith felt gravity fail again, and bit his lip as he rose, the pain in his leg thrashing as his body became suspended in the air. But this time, he was inching up the cliff.

Lance felt Keith’s weight in his mind. He didn’t realize how far he had to lift him. How heavy the guy was. How the jerking of the quakes made it hard to keep a hold. But he would NOT drop him. No matter how much the strain hurt or how vigorous the rumbles got, he was not letting Keith go. 

Lance’s nose started to twitch, the sulfur-like smell getting stronger in the air. It traveled up his sinuses and made him lose balance. He felt Keith dip, but he straightened and kept his grip.

“Sorry…,” he grunted out.

The quakes grew. Lance’s knees bounced on the ground. He knew what was coming. And it was coming quick.

Keith looked down. Mixing with the black of the chasm, he saw the gas churn and spin. While his visor was down, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to brace the sheer force of the gas geyser. Either way, he’d be ripped from the air and...he shook his head, focusing only on getting up as fast as he could.

Lance squeezed his eyes. His teeth chattered with the ground. Then he sensed it. A lilting pause in the quakes. A “ready-set” before the “go”.

All of his thoughts turned to one idea:  _ I want Keith next to me RIGHT NOW. _

Keith felt a tug in his center, and shot up the rest of the cliff, which was only about ten more feet. Lance saw Keith’s form float in front of him. He reached out, clenching Keith’s arm, and pulled him over the edge. They collapsed, Lance shielding Keith. Lance remembered to slap his own visor down, before the chasm blasted out another column of gas.

The air ripped at Lance as he held onto Keith. He imagined this was what it felt like being at the base of a tornado. He was sure they were going to go right back over the cliff, but he flung his feet into the dirt as deep as he could, grounding him to the earth. They would not fall.

The ripping turned into tugs, and the tugs turned to laps, the gas finally reaching up into the sky. Lance carefully got up, looking over his shoulder at the swirling mass. 

A cough under him made him jolt.

“Keith!”

Lance got off him. Gently, he turned Keith over and lifted him to a sitting position. Keith grimaced, his leg telling him for the fiftieth time that day that it did NOT want to move. 

Keith blinked and looked up. Lance’s eyes sparkled. Their was so much joy in them Keith could almost ignore the pain, and imagine they were just sitting back at the farm. Lance’s brow conveyed so much relief in its crease. His mouth was an open ear to ear grin. After a pretty stressful and painful experience, Keith relaxed.

“Hey…” Keith said

“H—hey,” Lance answered, his chuckle cracking only a tiny bit. After the rush of reassurance that Keith was out of the pit, he got to work on the rest of his rescue mission. “Think you can stand at all?”

WHOO boy, Keith didn’t want too. But who knew where the others were? And even though he was tired and inconvenienced, he didn’t like the idea of waiting around. “Take most the weight, and I think I can do it.”

Lance nodded. He slipped Keith’s arm over his neck, shifting him up, and placed his other arm at Keith’s middle. On the mental count of three, he hoisted Keith up, getting a wail of pain in his ear.

“Sorry.”

“S’okay,” Keith grunted, “gotta do it. Let’s go.”

Lance took his steps slowly. Not like they were in a rush, but he also didn’t want to jostle Keith too badly. Lance felt the memory of their first real fight as a team,  against the Galra and Sendak, come back to him; his mini coma after being blasted in the castle. Lance imagined Keith must be feeling something similar, except he had the bad luck of having to be awake for it.

Keith’s breaths came out slow. “I...I talked about you...you know…”

Lance frowned, lips pinching into a pout. “What are you talking about?”

Keith paused. Lance looked at him, but Keith’s face was facing the ground. And also looked...dreamy?

“I told...I told Shiro...about a kid in class...who always seemed...spunkier...than the rest. How he...he kept watching me...but didn’t push. I kinda thought….it was nice...he...made class...kinda fun…”

...Okay Keith DEFINITELY inhaled too much of that gas. Lance could not believe the words coming out of his throat. What the heck was any of that supposed to mean anyway—

...wait.

His goal. Impress the prodigy so the prodigy could tell the hero. The first time he formally met Shiro...

_ Lance, wasn’t it? _

Lance felt the heat creep up his neck and flush all over his face. He was happy Keith was still looking at the ground.

Another rumble ahead of them, weaker than the first, made Lance tense his legs. The ground burst with dirt, and three molecats pounced on the ground, growling and baring their teeth.

“Oh, come ON!”

The molecats spread out, surrounding the two of them, cutting off any escape routes. Lance darted his eyes on each one, trying to see which molecat was getting ready to strike first.

Keith groaned against him. “Lance, just get out of here. You can’t take them all on at once.”

“What?! Dude that’s the stupidest idea you’ve had all day on top of breaking your leg. I took on two of these guys before, one more is just a party.”

“Lance don’t—“

But Lance was already setting Keith on the ground, slow enough to not startle the molecats or agitate Keith’s leg. Lance widened his stance. He eyed each molecat. Bringing his arm to the side, he felt his bayard appear in his hand, humming with energy. He felt himself tense, a plan forming in his head, and the bayard shifted; the three foot Altean broadsword elongated in his hand. He gripped it tight, feeling his gut tingle again.

He slid his foot. “I’ll get their attention on me. Just stay quiet and act boring so they don’t come after you.”

Before Keith could protest, Lance lunged, shouting as he darted towards the middle molecat, swinging his sword violently in an effort to scare it. The beast reared and dodged to the side. The molecat to the left tried to pounce, but Lance spun and hit the animal with the flat of his blade, knocking it a good few feet away. The first molecat darted, jaws snapping. Lance sidestepped and slashed again, a large gesture that made the creature bounce back. Lance looked to the side, noticing molecat Number 3 was running off towards Keith. Lance flexed his hand, and thrusted it forward, a few bolts of lightning shooting between the molecat and Keith, stopping the animal in its tracks. The molecat turned, its interest now settling on Lance.

All three molecats crept around Lance, growling and pawing at the ground. Lance smirked. Yeah, he was in the center of a carnivore convention. But he hadn’t felt this thrilled in a long time. Everything slowed down. His senses picked up tiny details in movement, noises, even how each molecat stunk like the stuff in the air mixed with forest mud. Everything was coming back to him, just like the first Maltean invasion. His technique. His form. His fighting spirit. 

One molecat dove into the ground and out of sight. The other two advanced on Lance. One slashed with its huge paw while the other went for a snap. Lance parried the molecat’s paw, then punched the other in in the face with an electric fist, sending both flying. The ground under him rumbled, and he jumped back, the third molecat popping out of the ground. Lance leaned his weight backward and kicked the beast hard in the snout. 

Keith laid in awe. It was like watching a dancer. Lance was fighting like he’d still been training for years. It was like...whatever emotional hump he got over the other day, it was a barrier removed so he could be himself again. Each strike was calculated. He anticipated each attack.

Keith didn’t feel useless anymore. In fact he felt like he was better off staying out of the way.

The molecats stood, shaking their heads. Each one growled as they circled Lance, closing in on him. They blocked off any openings, making Lance have to quickly turn his head to keep his eye on them all. They all stopped, lowering their heads and raising their twitching hinds in the air. Keith could see it coming.

“Lance!”

The three molecats pounced, shrieking and snapping their fangs.

Lance tensed, curling in on himself, then thrusted his head back yelling. A shockwave of lightning burst around him, white and blue bolts making a dome over his form and expanding outward, flinging all the molecats away. Keith felt the wave too, a breeze rushing over him. A small *boom* like thunder echoed in the quarry. 

Keith’s eyes scanned Lance’s back. He was sparking, arms twitching a bit from the aftershocks. He fell to his knees, probably exhausted from the sudden release of energy. Keith’s mind swirled with excitement, pride, and concern, a feeling that he could only pinpoint as—

“Lance! You okay?!”

Lance lifted a shaky thumbs up, turning his head so Keith could see his toothy grin. Keith sighed. At least this time he didn’t pass out from the power surge.

Grumbles around them brought their attention up.

The molecats twitched, but got to a standing position. Their eyes weren’t visible, but their teeth told Lance they were MAD, snarling and licking their lips.

Lance felt weakness tug at his muscles. He’d used most of his energy in that blast, hoping those dirt devils would’ve been knocked out by it. They circled around him again. Lance brought up his sword, materializing his shield along with it, and braced for the impact.

“Lance!” Keith’s voice sounded so far away.

A screech in the sky startled everyone, the molecats jumping in surprise. Overhead the sky darkened for a second, and the Blue Lion somersaulted in the air. She twisted her body, then landed right over Lance, roaring at the molecats. The beasts in question stirred, but otherwise stood frozen in fear. On Blue’s back, a large cannon formed, aiming down where the molecats were. A second later, high pitched whines emanated from the beam, sending out sonic waves. The molecats scratched at their faces and scraped them on the ground, then turned their tails and ran, diving into the ground and burrowing away.

Blue raised her head, her gaze landing on Lance. A speaker whined, and a voice boomed from above.

“You guys need a lift?”

Lance teared up. He didn’t hide it. Hearing Shiro's voice after the day he had was like a homecoming. The tension in his muscles faded away. But then immediately came back as he heard coughing in his helmet com.

Lance scrambled up, ignoring the exhaustion in his mind and limbs. He ran to Keith and dropped to his knees, reaching to gingerly get him upright. He heard another groan come out as he lifted him up. 

He dragged Keith towards Blue, the Lion opening her jaw to let them in.

“I’m...I’m sorry...that I didn’t remember you...you’ve always...been my drive too...in a way.”

Lance snuffed, baffled that Keith was still being this ridiculous. “Save your breath, Keith. Seriously I think your lungs need the air more than my ears.”

Keith coughed again, and Lance was surprised he hear the smile in it. “You’re….you’re a good fighter, sharpshooter. Makes me...makes me glad...you’re on our team. Glad you...you got my back.”

…

Something.

Something tugged at Lance’s mind. Something that he couldn’t figure if it was an imagination or a memory. But holding Keith like this, one of them tired and slowly losing consciousness, and the exchange of encouraging, soft words, brought Lance backward in time. He vaguely recalled something similar, and the idea of being on the team. 

_ A good team. _

…

Lots of...stuff...went through Lance’s mind. He felt warm. He felt jittery. His heart was hammering but he didn’t think it was from the end of their fight with the molecats. But the one feeling. The one thought that was crystal clear. The thought that brought him overwhelming relief, happiness, and the start of a nagging nervousness:

He was with Keith. 

And that’s all that mattered.

Lance looked out from under Blue. The yellow gas in the sky started to fade, and the sunlight brought back the colors of the evening. Blues from the encroaching night mixed with the reds of the sunset, streaking the sky with a warm violet, stars starting to wake up in between.

“Y...Yeah mullet...me too.”

He was so exhausted, he could only let Hunk, Pidge, and Shiro recount their own tales on the planet, simply being an ear and listening to them as they flew back to the other Lions. 

He sat at the back of Blue’s cockpit, Keith passed out next to him on his shoulder. Watching him rest, Lance let the tiredness take him over as well, but still felt the tug of something on the back of his mind. He drifted into a nap, wondering what feelings he’d wake up with. 

 

\--

 

_ 4 weeks before Kerberos  _

 

Lance didn’t want to look. He knew he’d studied. He’d gone through each simulator drill thrice over. He’d made Hunk grill him night after night on protocols, procedures, policies, and pickles (they’d taken a pickle break from studying). But all of that didn’t matter at this point. At this point, Lance stood in front of the bulletin board, eyes shut. At this point, the opening of his eyes meant his entire future ways laid out before him. 

He sniffed in a deep breath, garnering the courage, and opened his eyes.

He scanned the list. Names he recognized popped in his vision. Hunk got engineer. Great! Hunk was freaking out over nothing, of course he’d get engineer. Griffin got fighter pilot. Figures. Not that Lance particularly cared that much. That jerk could go fly into a supernova anyway. Down, down the list. His eyes stopped on Keith’s name. Fighter. While Lance felt a twinge of annoyance, he actually was glad. Keith was talented. Plus this meant that all his rebellion in class didn’t affect his standings. Lance’s chest puffed a bit. He was actually feeling proud of Keith (no seriously) succeeding at what he was good at.

Lance’s eyes darted down. His heart skipped as he landed on his name. It took him a full three seconds to tear his eyes from it and look to the right.

Lance McLain.

Cargo.

…

He looked at his score. It wasn’t that low. But low enough. Probably just below the cutoff. His sister would probably tell him that was still really good. Hunk would tell him cargo pilots still needed engineers, and he’d try to get put in Lance’s training group. But Lance knew what it really meant.

He wasn’t good enough. 

His eyes remain glued to the board, even as he felt a weight settle next to him, standing at his side. His thoughts were so tunneled it wasn’t until the voice spoke after a minute that he snapped out of it.

“So, what did you get?”

Lance looked over to his side, and nearly backflipped right there. 

Keith stood next to him looking up at the board too. He didn’t look excited, nervous, or anything. He looked kinda bored. But that thick brow of his still held a quiet determination. Lance didn’t mean to stare for as long as he did, but there was something about Keith’s focus that Lance found fascinating.

Then he remembered reality and how his life was one karma punch after another.

He sighed and put his hands in his pockets, turning away from Keith. “A lighter course load and a future dingy ship.”

Keith scanned the board. Lance caught his eyes pause for a few moments. Lance wondered what Keith was looking at. What he was thinking. Which made Lance beg the question why did he CARE what Keith was thinking? From this point on, he’d never be able to catch up. He was an arm’s length away from Keith’s level before. Now he was stuck in the mud, with no way of getting out.

“They do mid-semester evaluations all the time. Just don’t let your grades slip.”

Keith turned to walk down the hall. Lance stood dumbfounded as he watched Keith’s back.

Ever since their hallway encounter after the Griffin punch a few months ago, Lance had kept a pretty low profile around Keith. Hunk told him he should bring it up and talk to Keith about it; Lance equated that to snipping the wrong wire at a bomb site. But, Lance would smile across the lunchroom occasionally, and sometimes be met with a smirk in return, just for a brief moment. There were still moments in the simulator where Keith would tap him, but Lance didn’t get as annoyed by it as he used to. He even caught on to the little wing dip that Keith would do as he passed Lance, almost like a gesture of “keep up”.

He tended to do that more and more after Shiro left for the Kerberos mission to Pluto. Lance knew that threw a twist in his plans for impressing his hero, since he was gone. Especially now that he got slated as a cargo pilot. But...Keith just encouraged him. Golden boy Keith, Shiro’s prodigy, was giving him a shred of hope. That did two things to Lance’s insides. First, it warmed him. It warmed him because it meant...someone... someone he saw as an unattainable goal, was telling him not to give up. That he can do better, and go above the next time. The second thing it did was boil his insides because it was KEITH.

Lance fumed. Sputtered. Then made a decision. He shot his finger out, pointing. “Hey, Keith!”

Keith turned, confusion on his brow. Lance’s rage settled a tiny bit, noticing how innocent it looked, but kept his momentum so he wouldn’t lose his words.

“You better watch your back! ‘Cause one of these days, I’m coming to get it! Just you wait!”

Keith stood there, blank. Lance had a moment of recollection, realizing what words he just spoke to Keith. Sweat started to trickle at his brow. He held his gaze, a pout pinched so hard on his lips he might turn into a fish. He tried to convey all his disappointment, anger, and confidence in that stare. Lance knew Keith was more a show than tell guy anyway, so maybe he’d understand.

The blankness on Keith’s face melted into a smile. He said nothing, but gave Lance a two fingered salute, then turned and walked down the hall, passing the corner out of sight.

Lance sighed out the rest of his irritation, lowering his finger. He wasn’t sure what transpired there. But, he felt something. Deep in his gut. The bubbling hot acid in his stomach had drained away. In its place, a spark flickered. A flame of resolve reeled inside him. It was small, and threatened to go out after the news and daunting prospects of the future. But Lance felt a hand try to shield it, and keep it lit. He imagined it was Keith’s hand, confidently keeping Lance alight. 

Lance squared his shoulders, turning to walk down the hall and back to his dorm. He was ready for a nap, some video games, and setting a game plan with Hunk on how they were going to spend their semester break in the simulators.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well? Did I satisfy any withdrawals? Quell any burning questions on where the story is going? I hope you all enjoyed one of my most fun episodes to write, but we're not done yet folks! Season nine is just "digging" into the good stuff!
> 
> Again, i'm on tumblr, instagram, and twitter, to check out episode posters, clips, and other tidbits!


	8. Rainbow Connection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance makes a surprising connection. Shiro makes a mental connection. Pidge and Hunk help the MFEs connect the dots.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a present for getting Season 9 to 5000+ hits, here's the episode released early! Just so you know this episode was the fourth time I teared up at this fic, and you'll never guess where. 
> 
> But enough of me. On with the adventure!

Lance rested his hand on his cheek, looking at Shiro, listening to him, but not hearing a word he said, bored out of his mind.

The Atlas briefing meeting was dragging on a bit longer than Lance had expected. Shiro went over what happened on the gas planet they had crashed into, Pidge supplying all the “interesting” observations she found about its atmosphere. Overall, Lance was just happy to be off it. He saw Hunk trying to stay awake, nodding off at random times, snapping awake when Kincade poked him with a pencil, prompting Rizavi to stifle a laugh. Lance’s eyes turned back to his right, resting on the empty seat next to him...

Shiro turned the meeting into their next steps, and what the current game plan for finding the Malteans was.

“We’re still on our course heading. We’re coming up to a stretch of the galaxy that’s a little unfamiliar. Reports from scouters have brought back seeing gas masses and possibly even large cosmic creatures that may reside there. We need everyone to keep on their toes in case we need to defend ourselves. But, if we stay on track, we should reach our destination in the next little while. Right Lance?”

Lance perked, Shiro looking right at him. Lance hiccuped, all eyes on him. Someone in the room coughed.

“Uhh, yeah. Yeah totally.” While he wasn’t sure exactly how long it was going to take them, his gut still had that small tug. He described to Shiro like, when you know there’s gas in your belly, but this one was definitely pointed in a certain direction, growing as they continued to travel. While Shiro grimaced at the analogy, he helped Lance deduce if it WAS like gas, then they would reach their mark when Lance...

Well, either burped or farted, they hoped metaphorically.

Shiro nodded. “Then we’ll take some time to prepare defenses, but also to rest. We’ll need to be both physically and mentally ready for what’s ahead. Relax, but be at the ready in case we call. Dismissed.”

Everyone rose from their seats, filing out of the meeting room. Hunk yawned and stretched, cracking his back for good measure. “Welp, that was eventful. Think it’s time to take a trip to the mess hall.”

Pidge and the MFE pilots followed behind him. Lance rose, taking his time to leave, sauntering out of the room. A hand to his shoulder sent a spark down his spine.

“Everything okay, Lance?”

Lance turned. Shiro wore a sympathetic smile, but still had a question in his eyes. His concern touched him. Lance might have felt his cheeks color a bit.

“Oh! Oh yeah, it’s all good. Fine. Completely fine!”

Shiro rested a hand on his hip, his sympathy turning into a smirk. “It’s okay. I’m a little worried too. But Coran said he’s gonna be at one-hundred percent when he comes out of the pod. Be patient.”

Lance froze, mentally sputtering. His mind reeled back to getting rescued from the gas planet. Clamoring onto the Atlas. Lance running with Keith on his back to the med bay, practically hurling their leader into a pod. Coran went over Keith’s vitals, and relayed that the gas on the planet inflamed his respiratory system, causing it to swell and dry, deteriorating his lungs. That, on top of his broken leg, meant he would be in a pod for at least two days, making sure everything would work right when he got out. 

The entire time, Lance found himself pacing around the Atlas, training in the weight room, and even meditating inside the Red Lion just for something to do (still finding that Red felt awkward to connect to). 

Shiro patted Lance’s shoulder, heading toward the door. “He’s real lucky to have you around. Sometimes a big brother isn’t enough to get through his knuckle head.”

He left, leaving Lance even more stupefied than before.

 

\--

 

Hunk belched quite loudly, echoing in the cafeteria, making many people groan with agony. Next to him, Rizavi held up a finger, patted her chest twice, then unleashed a thundering burp, loud enough that Hunk could feel it in his own chest. He gave her a few mature golf claps.

“Well done. I relinquish my title unto you.”

Rizavi smiled, brushing her shoulder. “It’s all in the diaphragm.”

They sat as a group at one of the tables, chatting and enjoying a quick lunch before any of them had to report to duties or in case a giant space monster decided to show up. While Hunk and Rizavi were comparing their digestive systems, Pidge was looking at soil reads from the gas planet with Leifsdottir, curious as to how those molecats were able to dig so quickly on such a dense surface. Griffin was shoulder to shoulder with Kincade, watching a video the latter filmed himself on his phone; clips of Iverson edited as though he were speaking the lyrics of “Row, Row, Row your Boat”. The mice scurried around the table, trying to catch a nibble when people weren’t paying attention to their food. 

Lance sighed, eyeing his spaghetti, but he wasn’t particularly hungry. He let his chin sink to the table, face pouting.

Hunk looked at him, lifting an eyebrow. “Alright there, man? My pasta not as sweet today?”

“No, Hunk, it’s fine. Just...lots on the mind, ya know?”

“Uhh, I guess? You worried about finding the Malteans?”

“Yeah. Well, yeah I mean, of course that’s there. But...I don’t know, I’m just in a weird funk I guess.”

Hunk looked at Rizavi, the other shrugging her shoulders. Lance was Hunk’s best friend, not hers.

“Wanna describe what you mean by ‘funk’?”

Lance stretched his arms across the table, then slipped them under his head. Plachu crawled up Lance’s sleeve, resting on his shoulder. “I’m not really sure. I’ve just felt weird the past couple of days and really don’t know why—”

A *whirr* of the doors brought his attention up, as well as the light in his eyes.

Keith walked into the cafeteria, Kosmo at his side (the wolf barely squeezing by next to him, the big galoot). Veronica walked by with her tray of food, giving him a wave and greeting. Keith returned it with one of his own, his smile kind and glowing. 

Lance took about two tics of staring, before scrambling from his seat, knocking his food away and sending Plachu flying off his back. Hunk’s reflexes kicked in as he went for his drink glass, catching it before any orange soda spilled all over them. Rizavi lunged for the mouse, catching him before he plopped on the ground.

A rush of air came behind Lance as he halted right in front of Keith, whose face was painted with surprise, his mouth low and small. Lance huffed out a few breaths.

“Huh—Hey! You’re out of the pod! How’re you feeling?”

Keith blinked. “Uhh, fine. All good.”

“Good. Good. Glad you’re okay.”

“Thanks.”

The room felt like the volume was turned down. At least to Lance’s ears. He stood in front of Keith for another few seconds, staring at various parts of his face. His symmetrical nose. The scar on his cheek. His inky eyes. 

Lance then realized he was staring and looked up and around, rubbing the back of his neck. Keith looked to the side, uncertainty replacing the surprise on his face. Lance felt some sweat pool where he was scratching.

“So...nice day, huh? Atlas temperature’s at a cozy...seventy-three degrees...today.”

Lance mentally facepalmed. Did he REALLY just try to bring up the WEATHER on a spaceship that HAS NO WEATHER?!

Keith frowned. “Yeah. They regulate the A/C.”

Lance nodded vigorously. Changing the topic, “Yup. So, you missed out on my excellent exploits of trashing Griffin at Killbot IV. We had the entire ballistics division placing bets. Sad to say he had to pass his crown to the real video game champ” (Griffin had pretty good ears, grumbling and seething at Lance, Kincade patting his back in sympathy). 

Keith quirked a small smile. “Nice. Good for you.”

Lance shrugged, supplying his own smirk. “Yeah, not really a challenge for me though. He got pretty frustrated after my seventh win. You could could say he, ‘went ballistic’.”

Lance shot a couple of finger guns at Keith, flashing his teeth with a grin. He imagined it sparkled. 

Keith raised raised his eyebrow, first looking at Lance’s fingers, then back up at Lance. “...You okay?”

Lance’s bravado started to fade, being replaced with a dash of anxiety and a full gallon awkwardness. He shot his hands down to his side. His palms felt wet. “WHAT?! Yeah—no I’m GREAT I’m good—all good—peachy keen and green—cool as a cucumber!”

Across at their table, Hunk sat, jaw near to the floor, and eyes like dinner plates. He kept his gaze on the two dunderheads, but slapped at Pidge across from him. “Pidge, Pidge—Pidge! We have movement, I repeat, WE HAVE MOVEMENT!”

Pidge perked, then looked behind her, eyes locking on to Lance and Keith. Noticing the very strange hand gestures coming from Lance, her own eyes peeled as well. She whirled back to look at Hunk, beaming.

“The game is on, Hunk.”

They reached out their hands, giving a good gentleman’s agreement shake. The MFEs stared at them with utter confusion.

“Uhh, what are you two talking about?” Rizavi poked Hunk in the arm.

Hunk winked at her. “We have reason to believe THOSE two, are going to share some choice words very soon, and Pidge and I have a little bet going on about the final results.”

Rizavi blinked. The MFEs looked at one another, then to Lance and Keith, then back to one another. Realization dawned on all of their faces, brightening their smiles and making them stifle laughter. Rizavi leaned in. “You guys may have a bet, but want to maybe get a little more hands on with the game?”

Pidge and Hunk looked at one another, sharing a devious grin, and turned to look at her. “What did you have in mind?” Pidge asked.

Back over at the door, Lance felt like the Atlas was NOT regulating the temperature, as he felt it getting hotter in the cafeteria. He didn’t understand it. It was just Keith. It’s not like he was any different after coming out of a healing pod. Same height (Lance still argued he was taller), but with broader shoulders more toned than he used to be. Same mulleted mop on his head, that Lance realized still framed his face nicely, even with some extra length. Same sharp features, softened when he smiled or pouted, showing off his baby cheeks. Same dark eyes, reminding Lance of the mountains on Altea; strong, mysterious, taking Lance on a journey just to find out what’s there—

_ OH-KAY _ where did THAT come from?! Lance wanted to backflip back to his seat, but his legs were simultaneously glued to the floor and jelly; one move and he’d crumple to the ground. A cough from Keith brought him back to the present, and presently, he’d been silent for about forty-five seconds. 

Lance coughed loudly himself, attempting to regain any composure (funny, since he really had none to begin with), and started to speak, as Sam Hohlt came behind Keith and tapped him on the back. 

“Ah, Keith. Shiro told me to go over the briefing we had earlier with you. We have a bit of a strategy in place and I wanted to see if you had any input.”

“Alright.”

They both turned. Lance took a couple of steps behind them. Keith turned around to give him a curious eye.

“You don’t have to come Lance, it’s the same briefing you guys got, right?”

“Uh—Yeah! Well—I mean. Just thought you might want your, ya know, right hand man to come along. Give you pointers...moral support…”

...Even Lance didn’t buy that. Keith frowned, but quirked a smirk a second later. “It’s okay. It’ll be boring just going through all the same information. I’ll meet up with you guys later.”

He patted Kosmo’s side, the wolf walking over to take a place next to Lance, nudging his hand to get a pet. Keith turned with Sam, walking own the hall. Lance watched his back, hanging his head and breathing out an exasperated sigh. He turned, walking back to the table and took his seat, Kosmo laying down in the aisle next to his feet.

Lance slumped his head back down to the table...looking up to see a group of faces staring at him.

“...What?”

Pidge and Hunk looked at each other, the small one giving a wink. She turned back to Lance. “Some of your finest flirting right there. Top tier for sure.”

Lance had a stroke. His mind shattered. He sputtered audibly and gave the group of staring eyes the most absurd face possible.

“WHAT?! What are you—I can’t believe you—FLIRTING?! That was NOT—That’s crazy you guys are—YOU—have got it all wrong  **I** was NOT doing anything REMOTELY like—“

Lance tried to speak a coherent thought, but his tongue had a mind of its own, twisting and flipping and not agreeing to a solid dispute. Pidge just smiled that evil, cat-just-knocked-a-vase-over smile, watching Lance squirm. He looked over to Kincade and Griffin, cheeks puffed and lips small, trying hard not to laugh. Rizavi had on a crooked grin, tapping her fingers together while Hunk nudged her shoulder. Everyone was in on the joke except Lance. He slammed his hands on the table. 

“Guys, I was NOT flirting with—“

“Increased verbiage. Rushed speech. Perspiration. Staring. Avoiding eye contact. A sudden change in mood when someone enters the room.”

Lance whipped a twisted face in Leifsdottir’s direction. At first it just sounded like a string of words, then he put some pieces together, and he blushed. Pidge raised a fist that Leifsdottir eyed suspiciously, but then bumped it.

“Science, Lance. Physics is just how the world works.”

Lance shot up, Kosmo perked to look up at him. 

“Well whatever ‘science’ you guys are studying, stop making me a test subject! I did NOT flirt with Keith. Like, why would I even do that?”

There was silence for about four tics. All the faces looking at him deadpanned. Pidge broke the silence. “You want the theories numerically or alphabetically?”

Lance let out a grizzly sigh, leaving the table and heading towards the door, fists tight and head fuming. Kosmo hopped up and followed him, the door sliding after them both. 

Kincade and Griffin gasped, gaining back the air they’d lost holding their laughter in. Rizavi dragged a hand down her face while Leifsdottir just blinked. 

Hunk turned to Pidge. “You think that was a little mean?”

Pidge shrugged. “Maybe a bit. But subtlety doesn’t work with that one. He could take a bat to the face and wonder if an attacker came from behind. A good blunt push might at least get his cogs working.”

Rizavi poked Hunk. “So...we up for a phase two?”

Hunk and Pidge smiled. Pidge leaned in. “Oh yes.”

 

\--

 

Lance had his back against the wall, staring down at the floor of the hallway, eyes unfocused. Kosmo sat beside him, licking Lance’s hand every once in awhile. Lance hardly noticed.

He...he wasn’t...COULDN’T…

His mind ran in a million different directions with no destination. He DID NOT flirt with Keith! He was just happy to see him out of the pod. Looking all healthy and nice. And glowing. And...cool. And grizzled—

Lance shook his head, the VERY strange thoughts bouncing in his brain were starting to give him a headache. Keith was his leader. Keith was his friend. Keith was his leader-friend. And a really good one at that. Lance scoffed.  Pidge was crazy. All Lance did was look up to Keith as a fantastic role model and authority figure. And when he wasn’t being all Blade Leader, Keith would be an exceptional friend, coming to visit Lance on Altea for the past few years, just being a real cool dude in general.

Yeah, just fun visits. Going to get fried tubers at the juniberry festivals. Taking a bike drive around the perimeter of the city one day after working on fixing Kaltenecker’s corral, with Lance at Keith’s back. Sitting on top of the farmhouse roof, watching the sunset, Lance talking about how one of the Altean kids on his tour tried to lick the Balmera crystal. Keith...uh...Keith….

Keith...laughing. Smiling so bright it was like the sun wasn’t setting. Or like the first star had appeared in the night sky. Eyes shining with the last few rays of the day, shades of violet sparkling like a pair of amethysts. The breeze lifting his hair, strands feathering over his cheeks. His lips.

. . .

Lance could PHYSICALLY feel his heart attempt to escape his chest and run down the hall. He had NO CLUE why he would imagine….KEITH….like THAT. The memory was just as mundane as he remembered. For some reason, the details seemed...crisper...all of a sudden. 

He felt Kosmo nudge his hand. The wolf knocked him out of his stupor. He gave him a pat on the head. 

Something was up with him, Lance thought. Ever since the gas planet, he’d felt a strange unease and urgency in his chest that wouldn’t go away. Now, it felt about ten times stronger, added with the factor of feeling an elation when he saw Keith walk into the cafeteria. But that was just the relief of seeing his fellow teammate okay.

Right?

Lance grimaced. He turned on his heel and walked down the hall, pushing off of each step like he couldn’t be bothered to think about what was behind him. Kosmo trotted at his back. Lance had a small plan forming. Because whatever was going on in his head...

He was going to get to the bottom of it.

 

\--

 

Shiro breathed in, and out, the rhythm in his chest the only thing he focused on.

He sat criss-crossed atop the Blue Lion, eyes closed in a meditative state. The hangar echoed the generators and A/C units, but Shiro tuned them out. His only focus was on Blue, and the energy around her that he was attempting to reach out to.

He felt the other Lions as well, a bit weaker, sitting in a semi-circle in the hangar. He could sense the familiarity of the Black Lion, but it felt distant, almost ushering him toward a new path. 

That new path, of course, was Blue. Shiro knew very well that a paladin and their Lion had to be in complete sync. Being the “newest” paladin, he figured he had to start at square one. Square one was proving to be more difficult than he thought.

The clang of echoing metal opened his eyes. Looking to the side, he watched Keith climb up the side of Blue’s head, huffing slightly.

“So...I guess I get to be the one to ask if you’re up here focusing?”

Shiro chuckled. “Yup. But I still win with the amount of accumulated patience over the years. Especially looking after you.”

Keith sat next to Shiro. “Still trying to connect with the Blue Lion?”

Shiro nodded. “It’s not like we’re disconnected. But...I can definitely feel something not clicking quite right yet. Like...the Lion is waiting for something from me. But I have no idea what it is yet.”

Keith looked down at the Lion’s surface. Deciding to ride in the Atlas for the next stretch was a good idea; it gave everyone a chance to rest up and prepare. But he did want to get the team back out and in their Lions. That fiasco on the gas planet didn’t help his confidence, but working with their Lions would definitely help. Especially since they hadn’t done the one thing they really needed to do yet: form Voltron.

But, that meant each one of them needed to be connected with their Lion. And right now, Shiro seemed to be just within reach, but not quite.

“Well...it’s a new Lion. You just need to find what connects you to it.”

“I thought that was the ‘drive’ that Lance mentioned?”

Keith frowned. “I think that’s part of it...but, maybe it’s also what trait the Lion represents. Like before, you were the Black Paladin, the decisive head of Voltron. Now, you gotta find out what makes you the Blue Paladin.”

Shiro cocked a brow. “Well, I’m flattered if the Blue Lion thinks I’m the most handsome pilot of the bunch.”

They both laughed, coming across a certain memory that brought some pride to Shiro, and maybe a little flutter to Keith’s mind. Keith dropped his smile. “But, we do need to hurry and work it out. If we can get the jump on the Malteans, we should try. And the only way we’re going to is with Voltron.”

Shiro nodded, facing forward. “Which means I need to work harder. But I think we may also have a secret weapon on our side that might help.”

Keith gave Shiro an innocent pout, a question making his nose scrunch. Shiro smiled. “Not like I’d put him on the front lines or anything, but magic lightning and floating powers could come in handy, especially with an enemy utilizing quintessence.”

Keith felt a little rose come to his cheeks, remembering the extremely cool and slightly awkward rescue Lance carried out. Shiro just patted his shoulder, making Keith wonder how he could still put up with a brother that had a warrant out for the arrest of Keith’s dignity.

Some very loud, shrieky yelps, and the clashing of metal brought their attention to the side.

“Speak of the devil.”

Lance was clambering up the side of the Red Lion, huffing and puffing after realizing how tall the Lions were, as he got on top of Red’s head, and splayed out, taking in deep breaths. He turned his head, a big smile on his face.

“Oh! Keith! Shiro! Didn’t realize you were here!” He pushed himself up, getting into a similar pose as Shiro. “Well fancy that, we ALL had the same idea of coming up to connect with our Lions. Well, I mean me and Red are tight like a tether, but it’s nice to come up, say ‘Hi’, mentally chit chat and just be awesome buds. Isn’t that right, Red my pal?”

Lance patted Red’s head, and was met with no reaction whatsoever. While he knew Keith and Shiro couldn’t feel his bonding attempts, Lance still started to sweat, the awkwardness of not connecting with his Lion building. 

Keith and Shiro stared blankly. Keith then looked down to see Kosmo, waiting at the Lions’ paws. Keith frowned, dumbfounded why Lance didn’t just use him to pop up to his Lion.

Lance fidgeted, shifting into a more relaxed pose leaning on one hand and resting the other on his knee, like he was laying out at the beach. “Yeah, all that good paladin stuff. ‘Cause we’re totally in sync. And when we get back out there, man it’s gonna be a light show with how awesome me and Red are gonna be flying. Shooting through space, being cool.”

Keith stood, dusting his pants. He looked to Shiro. “I’m gonna go train for a bit. Let me know if you make any headway with your Lion.”

“Will do.”

Keith whistled, and a blue *pop* appeared in front of him, Kosmo now on top of the Blue Lion. Keith placed his hand on the wolf’s head, and they disappeared, flashing into existence at the base of the Lions. Keith and Kosmo walked to the door, leaving the hangar.

Lance scrambled up, dashing to the side of Red’s head. “Oh, okay so we're done meditating? Okay that’s cool. Yup, me and Red are super tight anyways so this was just like a refresher. We can be all buddy-buddy when we get out on the—WAAAAHH!”

Shiro heard the squeal of skin slipping on metal, and the echo of a *thunk* that signaled Lance hitting the top of Red’s shoulder unexpectedly. Lance remained silent the rest of the way down, as Shiro watched him jump off Red’s paw and run out of the hangar. 

Shiro righted himself, ready to go back to his meditation, but then heard even more footsteps below.

Pidge, Hunk, and the MFE pilots were all running across the hangar floor to the other door, giggling and shoving one another. They passed through the same door Keith and Lance had exited.

Shiro blinked, certain he was still the ringleader of absolute children.

 

\--

 

Lance crept along the wall of the hallway, inching his way closer to the training deck. Reaching the entryway, he peered his head around the corner, looking into the open room of the deck.

Kosmo was laying on the ground, head resting on his paws. Keith—

WHOO….Keith….

Keith was in a black tank top and sweatpants, barefoot, hair tied back in a small bun. He had his Marmorite blade out, stretching his arms with it in multiple poses, getting a feel for the sword in his arms. He slashed it a few times in the air, twisting and stepping, the choreography complex and graceful. Lance had the tiny memory of seeing Keith come back to their group after finding Krolia. How he looked...Lance had a mental whiplash that he actually used the word  _ grizzled  _ to describe Keith. But that’s how he looked here. His muscles had always been toned, but now there was definition. As he changed the grip of his sword, Lance could see them contract, each move a delicate and calculated maneuver—

WHY…...did his mind keep DOING that?! He just wanted to follow Keith so he knew he was just admiring his leadership and friendship. That’s it! But his brain kept doing that funny thing of turning to mush when he didn’t like it and jumbled his thoughts so he couldn’t concentrate. Kinda like the time he took some cough medicine during a bad fever and he actually proposed to Hunk in his dorm bed; they both agreed never to speak of it again, but to always remember it fondly. Hunk said the ceremony would have been lovely.

Lance squinted at Keith, trying to figure out what the heck he did (‘cause DUH it was his fault) to make Lance feel like he was being hit by a truck, but a truck filled with a thousand fluffy pillows.

A sneeze sounded behind him.

“Gesundheit,” he said.

“Thanks.”

Lance blanked. His eyes peeled. His head wheeled around. Behind him sat Hunk, Pidge, and the MFE pilots, all crouched on the ground. Kincade specifically had his phone out, the camera lens faced directly at Lance. 

Lance gawked silently, falling over himself to turn to the group. He screamed softly, ”WHAT are you guys DOING?!”

Pidge whispered, “Documenting.”

“What does THAT mean?”

Rizavi nudged a bit closer. “We’re making a documentary about the heroic return of Voltron, and we’re doing a segment on each paladin.”

“Okay, and that requires you following right behind me AND without some kind of warning?!”

Hunk mentally sighed, loving his club-headed best friend, but wishing he was a bit more perceptive than that. But, he and the group had an agenda to follow if they wanted any action to take place. “We were trying to catch up to you, but you kept sneaking off...sneakily.”

Lance fumed like a kettle; steamy but squeaky. “And you don’t think that was for a reason?! Maybe that I was doing something and didn’t want to be interrupted?!”

“What are you guys doing?”

A gruff voice from above chilled Lance’s heated temper in an instant. His head turned slowly to see Keith looking down, face in a curious pout, a question in his eyes. Kosmo stood next to him, looking right at Lance and wagging his tail.

The group on the ground blinked twice, then all screamed and scrambled upright, charging around the corner, and leaving Keith and Kosmo alone.

Keith frowned, not quite sure why everyone was just sitting outside the training room, when they could have just come in to sit if they wanted.

 

\--

 

“Okay...so a documentary…”

Lance sat on one of the couches in the Atlas break room. Pidge, Hunk, and the MFEs sat across from him. Kincade had his phone out, capturing Lance’s crossed arms and legs, and a disgruntled pout of skepticism.

“Right,” Rizavi supplied. “We want to get an accurate account on how Voltron is after all these years, and how you guys plan to get back into the swing of things once you go to take on the Malteans.”

Great, another one of Lance’s problems brought up. He squirmed minutely, the anxiety of THAT venture coming back to his memory. He swallowed it for now. “Okay, well, what do you guys want to know?”

Rizavi and Pidge wiggled their eyes at one another. Rizavi looked back to Lance. “Well, first off, how does it feel being the Red Paladin again?”

Lance leaned back, stretching and placing his arms at the back of his head. “Oh, well it’s just like riding a bike, ya know? Years can go by and I’m just as nimble and strong as my glory days.”

Hunk rolled his eyes.  _ And just as cocky _ , he wanted to add.

Rizavi pressed on. “Right, right, and being the Red Paladin, what is essentially your role on the team? What have you had to, I guess, re-learn how to do?”

Lance blinked, but quickly put the smirk back on his face. “Well, being the right hand of Voltron, I’m the go-to guy when the situation get sticky. Generally the guy that gets in the action first. Really good at making those hard calls. Level-headed. Instinctual. And a fantastic flyer.”

Pidge deadpanned. Lance (and all of them) hadn’t piloted a Lion in years. While she couldn’t believe how pompous he was being not a few weeks into their space excursion, she admired how quickly he’d bounced back after all he’d been through. And if Lance’s self-esteem inflated after this mission, then Pidge was ready to hurry up and get home to make up for all those years of passive phone calls and missed opportunities. 

Griffin took notes on a tablet. He nodded enthusiastically to Rizavi, signaling he was ready to continue. She locked eyes with Lance. “I see, so you pride yourself on being a good right hand...so I guess you must admire your leader then, Keith.”

Lance froze. Shoot, why did she have to go THERE?! But, she was just asking about their team dynamic as Voltron. No big. He gave a squiggly smile, but started to feel the perspiration at his neck. “Oh, well, of course. He’s a pretty good leader. Have to admit it was ME that got him into the leading groove though. The guy was so impulsive all you had to do was poke him and he’d go off. Now he’s gotten better at making informed decisions. Maybe some of that comes with leading the Blade of Marmora, but like I said, he’d be nowhere without me.”

Rizavi nodded. “Gotcha. So...what else do you admire about him? Maybe just...as a person? Since the leader and right hand man are usually SO in sync.”

The sweat chilled Lance’s neck. “We—Well, he’s, he’s cool and all. Pretty nice guy. Confident, if bull-headed. Kinda smart, I mean he was one of the top students at the Garrison for awhile, not really in grades but in flying exercises. Strong, like, I think he could judo flip Kolivan if he wanted—”

“Oh, speaking of strength, I’ve noticed he’s had a particular training regiment to keep himself in top form all of these years. Would you like to comment on his athleticism and how as a team, you could emulate that in your own practices?”

Lance shot upright, seeing how far south that conversation could go if he continued. Documentary-schmockumentary. He wasn’t going to delve into anything that might—

...Wait a minute.

Lance’s eyes were slits, peering down at the group. “You guys are jerks. I DIDN’T FLIRT WITH KEITH!” He stormed out of the room, each step echoing loudly on the metal floor. 

Griffin took more notes while Kincade stopped the recording on his phone. Rizavi sighed. “So close.”

“Don’t worry,” Pidge assured her, “we’ve got time. Even if he’s onto us, I think he’s started to ask the question himself.”

“Knowing him, I bet he’s wondering what he’s even questioning,” Hunk interjected. 

 

\--

 

Shiro breathed in and out. The rhythm was a comfort, calming his nerves and loosening his muscles as he meditated. He channeled all of his energy onto Blue, determined to connect with her quintessence, spirit, or whatever Shiro could even latch on to. He had to find something.

And that was just it; if he couldn’t connect with Blue, they couldn’t form Voltron. Simple as that. And that meant it was Shiro’s duty to bond with Blue so they could. Because it was also his duty, as a defender of Earth and its allies, to stop the Malteans before they caused any more damage to their universe, and in turn, any other universes. Shiro thought that was what Lance meant before on Arus. He had a drive, a reason for going on this crazy adventure.

So why didn’t that seem like enough?

He posed that question, mentally, to Blue, trying to offer a hand for her to take. Again, he was met with hesitation. 

“Why?...You chose me, so what do I need to do?”

Shiro felt himself jerk, like when your leg kicks you awake while you sleep. He opened his eyes.

He stood on a plane of space and stars, tinted with blue. The plane stretched for what Shiro determined was eternity, the black floor reflecting thousands of stars above. Shiro got flashbacks of his time in the Black Lion’s consciousness. He guessed this was Blue trying to show him something, but he wasn’t quite sure what.

He looked forward. Four figures shimmered into existence. He could tell from their backs that is was his team. 

“Guys!” he called out to them.

None of them turned. Shiro started walking to them, but the perspective made it look like they were getting further away. He started running, pushing his legs to move. They only moved faster.

“Guys!” Shiro shouted. He was desperate. He had to get to them. He had to be there for them. He had to make sure they were okay. 

He had to be the one.

He fell through the floor, the darkness blotting out the stars in the sky. His friends disappeared…

Shiro gasped, opening his eyes. He was still sitting on top of Blue, thoughts of helplessness and failure floating through his head, and no closer to connecting with the Lion. 

“...I’m not giving up. I can’t. And I know you’re with me on this. I’ll figure it out...I have to.”

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and tried to reach out again.

 

\-- 

 

The idea wasn’t for Lance to get Keith to notice him. It was for Keith to be intrigued enough by Lance so he would notice him casually, and not at all by Lance doing ridiculous stunts to expedite that. 

For a good portion of the afternoon, Lance was trying every trick in the book to get a curious look from Keith. 

First, he tried the casual approach. Leaning against the doorframe while Keith walked by, Keith casually waved at Lance while continuing whatever he was doing. Lance shot a finger gun, before getting wedged into the sliding door after its sensors detected no movement, and thus closed on him. Thankfully, Keith had rounded the corner before he could notice the Lance-door sandwich. Pidge, Hunk, and the MFEs, however, did, and Kincade nabbed a snapshot of the image on his phone.

The next attempt was slightly more adventurous. Lance wrote a small note with just the words “Hey Man” written on it, giving it to a waggy-tailed Kosmo. The wolf teleported happily back off to Keith to deliver it, ony for Keith to slide the note out of Kosmo’s mouth in disgust, tossing it aside. Lance had forgotten how drooly Kosmo could be, and how unreadable the note was after that. He sighed, and heard a peppier sigh above him, looking up to see Veronica imitating his gesture, but looking confused as to why. Lance yiped, and ran down the hall, leaving Veronica more puzzled than before. 

His last attempt went for the bold approach. Lance waited around the corner of the hallway, hearing footsteps about to turn the corner. He pretended to fall in front of Keith so he would catch him. Except, he misjudged who was coming around the corner, and fell into the surprisingly strong arms of Coran. Lance quickly popped out of them and rushed down the hall in embarrassment. 

One after another, Lance’s endeavors to talk with Keith ended in vain. Each time the situation had him chickening out, Keith getting the wrong message, or it just blowing up in Lance’s face.

And of course, the group of meddling and devious nosy-Nellies he called his friends were watching every spectacle. They would snark and smirk at each attempt, and despite their nods and thumbs up of encouragement, he would still steam at them, denying that ANY of his attempts were anywhere near flirting-related. In his mind, all of this was just to spark some nice, casual conversation with his friend-leader...leader-friend...THAT WAS IT!

As they day went on, Lance’s confidence in his get-people-to-notice-him tactics was diminishing. Not only that, with each try, he felt his insides twist a little more, the feeling of uncertainty and anxiety growing. Each time he saw Keith, he couldn’t think quite straight, but was SO SURE it was because he reached a friendship milestone or something. It had to be. 

Because…

If it was the other thing…

The thing that he MAYBE was thinking about…

…

Lance needed help.

He’d been avoiding it all day (mainly because his “friends” seemed to be enjoying his struggle for some reason), and it was building how much he needed to let...whatever this was, out. 

But...who to talk to? Pidge and Hunk were out. Even though Lance told Hunk EVERYTHING, he was still conspiring with the little green devil at the moment, and he didn’t want to give that gremlin any more ammo (even though he still loved her, deviousness and all). He was on neutral grounds with the MFEs, but again, they were all into watching Lance squirm. His sister? He told Veronica most of everything in his life. But. This seemed like a weird moment, and he wasn’t sure about telling her. It was a conversation that didn’t feel like she was supposed to be in just yet. Maybe Sam Hohlt? He was the most adult-adult on the Atlas, but Lance shook his head with thoughts of an actual dad telling him stories of his youth and “When I was a young whipper-snapper…”

Wait.

A dad.

DAD.

Lance dashed down the hallway, knowing exactly who he needed to find.

 

\--

 

The doors to the bridge *whooshed* open, and Lance skidded inside. He ran right up to the helm, turning Shiro and gripping his arms tight.

“SHIRO-I-NEED-YOUR-HELP!” Lance shouted rather loudly and quickly, causing Shiro to blink in surprise. What Lance realized a second later was Curtis and Veronica, sitting at their stations, turned as though they were conversing with Shiro at the helm. Lance’s face proceeded to turn beet red with sweat washing down his face. 

Shiro blinked again, looking back to his crewmates, and back to Lance. “...Oh-kay? What do you need?”

Lance released his grip on Shiro, rubbing the back of his neck to try and rub off the awkwardness he’d caused. “Ha ha ha, nothing big! Just...you think we could maybe talk just, you and me? Mano a mano?”

Veronica and Curtis blinked at one another, eyebrows reaching their temples. Lance mentally cursed that his own sister was in the room, certain she was questioning why he wasn’t talking to her about...well she didn’t KNOW what Lance was talking about, but Lance knew his sister liked to know everything, so he was prepared for the possible interrogation he could get later.

Shiro melted into a smile, and patted Lance’s shoulder, leading him out of the room. “Sure, let’s go for a walk.” They exited the bridge, the door shutting behind them. Curtis and Veronica looked at each other. Curtis raised a brow. “Okay, he’s  _ your _ brother. Any idea what that was about?”

Veronica frowned. “Yes...and it is LONG overdue. I just hope he doesn’t trip over himself too much trying to reach the goal.”

Curtis looked at her, a question in his eyes. Veronica sighed. “I saw this coming YEARS ago, and that doofus is only now going through a ‘self-discovery’. Looks like he thinks Shiro might be able to help. Not that I’m offended. In fact, I think it’s probably for the best. I can only do so much that doesn’t sound like I’m teasing my brother on a crush.”

Curtis blinked in surprise. Shiro had talked in great detail about each of the paladins. Recalling what he’d said about Lance, Curtis’s face shifted to a thoughtful pout, then a smile. “So you think Lance’ll make a move?”

“Oh, he’ll move. It’ll be a shove from someone behind him and he’ll faceplant a few times trying to get up, but he’ll move.”

 

\--

 

They walked back to the hangar. The Lions still sat in their proud semi-circle, each one giving off a wave of greeting. Lance could faintly feel Blue offer a brush of welcome, a familiar feeling that always reminded him of home. Looking to Red, he still felt the standoffish aura about the Lion. The only way Lance could describe it was...like Red was impatient, and Lance wasn’t doing exactly what Red wanted. Only problem was, Lance didn’t know what he needed to do.

“So, what exactly did you want to talk about?”

Lance perked, remembering why he fetched Shiro in the first place. The heat began to rush up his neck again. “Hehe, yeah. So...promise you won’t laugh or anything, okay?”

“Of course I won’t laugh.”

Lance breathed in deep, then let it out with an audible sigh. “Okay...you ever have someone who gets under your skin, and you think that it’s the most uncomfortable thing in the world, but at the same time, you kinda start to like them there because it ALSO feels really nice but you still gotta itch it, but then if you itch it you might irritate it more and it might get red and hurt and then maybe even burst and then you’re left with an open hole that’s exposed and stings and stuff’s getting everywhere and you’re not sure if you should go to the hospital or just deal with it yourself at home?”

“...uhhhh…”

Lance paused, thinking he had said everything clearly, but going over it again in his head, he saw how one might have gotten lost with his brilliant analogy. “Okay, scratch that. How about...have you ever felt uncertain about someone...you’ve known for a really long time? And you’re not quite sure how to tell them that, maybe, your view on them has changed, and that you’re not sure if it’s a good change or not?”

Shiro softened the question on his face. “You mean like a crush?”

Lance sputtered, arms flailing. “Pffffftttt! What?! No nononononononono, of COURSE not. No where, NEAR, what you just said—not—not that at ALL!”

Shiro raised an eyebrow. “You sure?”

Lance paused, catching on what Shiro was dishing out. Shiro wanted him to actually stop and think about what he was saying... what he was thinking. Only thing was: Lance was scared to put any hard thought on the subject itself.

Maybe that was the answer to his question.

Lance sighed, feeling a little defeated. “I don’t know...I guess...I feel like I’ve had a balloon pop in my face, and now there’s something there that I didn’t know was there. But...I feel like, pursuing it...it feels like I’m going back on a lot of what I've said.”

Shiro smiled at him, thankfully not in an amused manner. He was being considerate, and understanding. In fact it looked like Shiro was downright beaming, like he’d just watched a loved one graduate after years of grueling schoolwork. Lance swelled a bit, not used to so much pride put in him all at once. Lance scratched the back of his head.

“When...when did you know...or...what made you realize that...your view of Curtis...or...Adam...had changed?”

Lance knew he was wading into risky waters, but...he felt like it was similar enough. That maybe, hearing what Shiro’s experience was like could help Lance understand his own. 

Instead of breaking down and tearing up like the other day, Shiro rested a hand on his hip, looking up to the Lions. “It wasn’t so much of a change. More like...everything added up. Like I finally saw the image after the last puzzle piece clicked into place. It was a little scary, realizing it at first. But then, over time, I came to accept how I felt, and wanted to share that feeling with, well, both of them. Even if it wasn’t the same, I wanted them to know, because that meant I was being honest with them, and myself.”

Lance stood in awe. The way Shiro talked made the little flame in his stomach flicker and grow, his belly feeling warm and fuzzy. Shiro turned to him, continuing.

“For Adam, I wanted him to know I thought he was really special, and that he could do whatever he wanted with the truth. And, I was rewarded for it. With Curtis, it was my push forward. To move on and be honest that, I could heal, and WANTED to heal. In either instance, all I really wanted was to share the happiness I felt with both of them.”

Shiro locked his eyes with Lance. Maybe Lance was still unsure about what was going on in his head, but Shiro's gaze conveyed a definite and deliberate  _ I know _ in it. That sent a warming shock down Lance’s back. Everything Shiro said was so on point and cohesive with how Lance felt. But, there was still that nagging uncertainty.

Lance sighed, smiling up at his mentor. “Thanks Shiro. That actually helps.”

Shiro smiled, then looked back up to the Lions, his eyes falling to a more determined glare. Lance blinked, looking up at them as well, then shifted back to Shiro. “You been connecting to Blue a bunch?”

Shiro huffed, hanging his head slightly. “More like trying to. I still haven’t been able to connect with the Lion fully. It’s like there’s a hurdle I just can’t seem to jump over.”

“What? Seriously? Blue is like the friendliest and easiest Lion to bond with. She’s super chill and loves everybody!”

...Lance maybe realized a second too late that maybe he should have handled that a bit more delicately, as Shiro’s...mildly disgruntled frown was only a teensy bit jarring. “But I mean I know it’s not like an overnight thing! I mean of course it takes time and work to bond with your Lion and even me and Blue had our rough patches so it’s not like it’s NOT easy, or that’s it’s not-not hard, or, man did they turn up the heat in here?”

Shiro raised a brow. There was no malice behind his gaze. He was more upset with himself than anything that he couldn’t connect with the Blue Lion. But, Lance brought up a good point. “That’s right, you were the pilot of the Blue Lion first,” he paused, contemplating. “What’s it like. That bond I mean?”

Lance jumped. Shiro was looking at him with genuine curiosity. For once, Lance had the answer to something. For once, Shiro was asking for his advice. It was definitely a new, and rather pleasing feeling.

“Uhh, well. How do I put it?...Blue is kinda….fluid, ya know? She doesn’t push you and is really encouraging. Plus she’s really cool at helping you clear your head, and focus on what you want to accomplish. But, sometimes you gotta trust her. ‘Cause maybe she knows something more than you do, and can help you figure out what you really want, or, need, I guess.”

Shiro nodded. Pretty much all of the Lions were like that anyway. Each one knew something more about their paladin, and the Lions could help their paladins unlock traits inside them they never knew they had. But, that was still something Shiro just wasn’t getting with the Blue Lion. 

Lance side eyed Shiro, some disappointment growing in his stomach. “That didn’t help, did it?”

Shiro shook his head. “No, it really did. I think I’m just not quite finding that fluidity you’re talking about. I’m trying to be open and welcoming in return, but, there’s almost a barrier in between us.” He looked up to Blue. “But I have to connect. If I don’t, we can’t form Voltron. And that means we can’t reach the Malteans’ universe to stop them.”

Oh, great. The anxiety was back. Lance knew that part of their mission was coming up soon the closer they got to, well, wherever Lance’s stomach was leading them. But then there was his OWN predicament with his OWN Lion. Well, since they were dishing out insecurities already…

“I...haven’t been able to connect with Red really, either…”

Shiro turned his head, brow pinched with concern. “What do you mean?”

“Well...ever since Arus, it’s felt like Red’s been kinda...upset? Or maybe like he doesn’t want to talk to me. Like, he’ll let me fly him and all, but, that’s it. No bonding, no cool Lion-paladin combo stuff...he’s shut me out, mentally.”

Shiro looked over to the Red Lion. While he could feel Blue’s, and even faintly the Black Lion’s quintessence, he couldn’t feel the Red Lion’s. Shiro remembered what Keith had told him about flying the Red Lion for the first time.

“Well, what makes up the Red Lion? What’s its fundamental traits?”

Lance pouted slightly, not expecting a quiz. “Well, if I remember right, it was that Red was basically the most stubborn Lion. Also the fastest. And that it’s pilot had to run on instinct sometimes more than skill.”

Shiro shrugged. “Well, maybe you should start letting your instincts guide you, rather than thinking on things too much,” Shiro cocked his head to the side, giving Lance a raised brow. “Eh, loverboy?”

Lance blushed. Like, no joke, that got him. He felt the redness start in his toes and go all the way up to his scalp. He looked at Shiro. The jerk was just beaming with pride. Like a jerk. Lance pursed his lips, pinching them tight so he wouldn’t sputter like he normally did. He didn’t want to give Shiro the satisfaction. But, like he had promised, Shiro wasn’t laughing. That at least let Lance desaturate to a shade of pink, the heat transitioning into a calming warmth. Lance pressed his fingers together.

“If...If it IS...that...do you think…...do you think...SHE...would be okay with it?”

Shiro’s eyes went wide, but then quickly softened, making sure all the assurance and encouragement could be seen in his face. “You don’t think this could be her sign?”

Lance whipped his head. While Shiro had asked a question, it looked like he already knew the answer. Lance looked back down, not sure how to respond. Talking with Shiro was a huge help, but his feelings were still pretty much on a roller coaster, and had been on one daily, since the Malteans attacked...Scratch that. They’ve been on edge for the past three years if Lance was being honest. But… he could feel things start to feel like how they used to be, little by little. So...maybe Shiro might not be...far off, at least.

Shiro sensed the closure in the conversation, and patted Lance’s back. “We’ll figure out what’s up with our Lions, don’t worry. And we’ll do it as a team.”

Lance nodded. Thinking, he spoke, “You know, and I mean this in the best-most respectful-not condescending way possible, Shiro, but, you’re not the LEADER leader anymore, at least not for Voltron. You don’t have to worry so much about being perfect, ya know?”

Shiro blinked, curious as to what Lance was getting at, but also surprised to hear something so...blunt...no, bold.

“I mean, you keep saying you HAVE to figure this out, but, it’s okay if you don’t. Like you said, we’re there for you too. We’re all supporting each other. So...you can fall back on us now. “‘Kay, Mr. New Blue Lion?”

Shiro blinked, then laughed, then locked Lance’s head into a hold and gave him a huge noogie, Lance squirming and crying “Uncle!” as Shiro pressed harder.

“Since when did you get to be the wise one?”

“Isn’t that a job qualification for the Red Paladin? Be a voice of reason for a leader when they’re acting too uppity?”

Shiro released him, and slapped him on the back for good measure. Lance returned the sentiment with a lighthearted punch to Shiro’s shoulder. Shiro’s beams were getting as bright as car dealership search lights.

“So, you’ll work on the instincts?”

“And you’ll take the backseat?”

They both nodded. Shiro led the way out, turning to leave the hangar. Lance paused for a second, looking back up at Red, and then Blue. Thinking about his…*gulp*...next move, he turned to follow Shiro out, the Lions watching their backs as they marched.

 

\--

 

Lance stood in front of the break room door, thinking about how crazy his plan sounded. How insane that the words in his head were words he wanted to come out of his mouth. How ludicrous the inner machinations of his mind were—

“So, you talk to Keith yet?”

Lance squealed, the swiping door revealing Pidge, Hunk, and the MFEs all huddled in front of a TV, depicting Rizavi murdering Griffin at a race kart game. Pidge was looking back at him, her mischievous smile wide on her cheeks. Lance glared at her, thinking his words over carefully as to not give her any more ammo than she needed.

“And why would I do that?”

“Because you’ve been hovering around him all day. Seems like you either are just staring at him for the aesthetic or you got something to tell him,” Hunk said, popping a cheese ball in his mouth, eyes glued to the screen.  

Lance didn’t need Hunk to be on Pidge’s side. He fumed, walking over to the table and sitting down across from Leifsdottir, who was doodling something on a piece of notebook paper. Kincade was looking at footage on his phone, a clip of them all yelling, looping as he edited something together. 

“Look, you guys are just digging a hole to nowhere. There’s nothing going on, and I was just—”

“Following around a respected member of your team. Attempting to be noticed. Visibly turning upset or flustered when your attempts failed. Became embarrassed when anyone intervened.”

Lance blinked. Leifsdottir hadn’t looked up from her drawing, but apparently had been listening the whole time. Leaning over, Lance got a better look at what she was drawing; a little image of a tree, with two figures on a branch, specifically wearing red and blue.

Lance shook his head, huffing, took a deep breath, and released it. 

“...So?...What if...what if it’s….that?” The color on his cheeks deepened, and despite trying to make his voice sound nonchalant, still came out stunted and squeaky.

Rizavi paused their game, she and Griffin whipping their heads to look at Lance. Pidge’s mouth fell to her chin. Hunk’s chewing stopped. Kincade and Leifsdottir stared at him eyes wide. The room...was silent. 

Lance looked at each one of them individually, the irritation growing as his eyes landed on surprised faces. “...WHAT?!”

“Kincade, you might want to whip out the camera for this,” Pidge suggested.

“NO! No cameras! This doesn’t require documentation. Just some so-called FRIENDS that might be supportive of my emotional endeavours. Which apparently, has been difficult for all of you today!”

Hunk twisted, turning to get a better look at Lance from the couch. “Dude, we’ve always been supportive. It’s just you’ve been beating around the bush on something today, and we thought you could use a push.”

Rizavi shrugged. “Honestly I was in it for the thrill of the chase.” Hunk glared at her, his mouth thin and flat. Rizavi quickly changed her attitude, “but we’re still rooting for you!”

Lance pouted. “Look, there’s enough going on in my head as it is, what with the Malteans, us forming Voltron, you think you guys could lay off the extra-ness a bit?”

Hunk stood, walking over, leaning down on a knee, and placing an hand on Lance’s shoulder.

“Dude, we’ve been friends for too many years to count. I’ve seen you flub in front of Jenny Shaybon, get jilted by that other Jenny, and be a bumbling mess time and again when it came to your crushes. But, I was always there for you. And I’m here for you now.”

Lance was actually surprised at the amount of sincerity and seriousness Hunk was spouting. Even Pidge blinked in shock.

“But, each of those times, you took the initiative and DID something about it, even if it blew up in your face. You knocked on Jenny Shaybon’s door with a bouquet of flowers to ask her to the Garrison Spring Fling. You sent that homemade Valentine to the other Jenny with the glitter and candy hearts decorating the border. And by Crow you got the Garrison marching band to help you ask out that one girl, and I don’t remember her name, but even when you tripped and fell in the mud face first, you got up again and twirled that baton with everything you had!”

“Okay, Hunk, not really helping here…”

“What I’m saying is the Lance I know is a go-getter. He flirts with meaning and without reservation, holding nothing back. He makes sure people know how he feels, so that he knows exactly how THEY feel. Are you the Lance I know?”

Lance blinked, not quite sure how to answer. Hunk gripped him tighter, actually shaking him slightly, raising his voice, “Are you?!”

Lance jerked out a yelpy, “Y-yes!”

“I can’t hear you. Are you Loverboy Lance?!”

“Yes I am!”

“Are you gonna go get what you want?!”

“Yeah!”

“Then do it soldier!”

Lance stood abruptly, Hunk following suit. The two of them shared a quick bro-hug, and Lance turned on his heel, marching with purpose for the door. All the MFEs saluted behind him. Hunk set his hands on his hips, snuffing out a proud sigh. As the door shut behind Lance, Pidge sighed out her exasperation. 

“Good luck, you oblivious doofus.”

 

\--

 

Lance marched down the hall...not exactly sure where he was going, but at least he was going. Two pep talks in one day was the push he needed to do...again, something, he just didn’t know what yet. Really, he knew the ONE thing he had to do that might help him sort out his feelings.

He had to talk to Keith.

Kind of hard when Lance wanted to FIND Keith, he was nowhere to be found. 

Lance wandered the halls of the Atlas, waving at crewmates, dodging Slav’s odor theories, but found no brooding boy in sight. Lance shrugged, stopping in front of one of the observation windows, looking out into space.

The expanse of galaxy they were passing through was a palette of colors. Cosmic dust clouds rolled by in the distance, bright greens and yellows mixing together. Star clusters blinked bright, flashing bits of blue and purple. The darkness of space only brought out the brightness of each color, shifting and morphing like oil on water. For all of the adventures he’d been on, the worlds he’d seen, Lance was still amazed to this day that he was flying through space. He could only dream about it years ago, back at the Garrison, ever getting close to a fighter jet to even fly. Despite flying for years in Blue and Red, Lance still thought space was pretty cool.

Lost in the beauty of the infinite cosmos, he hardly heard the patter of footsteps coming in his direction. It was only when he heard the raspy tones of a gruff voice that he was knocked out of his stargazing.

“Enjoying the view?”

Lance turned, and his mind didn’t see too much of a difference between the stars outside and the one that shone before him.

Keith stood proudly, a hand at his slightly cocked hip. His shoulders were rolled back, showing how broad they were. His smile quirked crookedly, pushing his scar higher up his cheek. His hair was recently washed, but at that point when it was almost all the way dry, but damp enough to feel super soft when you brushed your fingers through (or, er...so Lance thought). Keith’s eyes reflected the window outside, becoming space itself, the darkness letting the lights dance in them. Oh, and Kosmo was at his side, wagging his tail, looking up at Lance, but Lance wasn’t really aware of the wolf at the moment. 

“Ye...Yeah,” Lance answered Keith, his brain simultaneously filled with a million words in a million phrases, and also just one big  _ UHHHHHH _ . Because, yeah, it was a pretty good view. 

Keith raised a brow. “So, what do you need me for? You’ve been kinda...present, most of the day. Something wrong?”

Lance pursed his lips, feeling, for the fortieth time today, the heat creep up his neck. “Aw PSHHHHHH! Yeah, totally, didn’t—uhh...didn’t need anything. Just...small ship, ya know? Gonna run into people easily like that, amiright?”

Lance knew that the Atlas was probably a hundred times the size of Voltron. He knew that. He kinda hoped Keith didn’t know that. But he probably did. So Lance knew that a comment like that sounded stupid, when it could easily take over an hour to get from one side of the Atlas to another. And thus, easy to NOT run into people on the Atlas at any given point in time. But again, Lance hoped Keith didn’t know that. 

Keith huffed out a light chuckle, then turned to look out the window. His gaze caught on a shifting nebula, the cloud morphing and shimmering incandescently. Lance watched as his eyes focused; two black pools reflecting the image.

“Any more feeling from the comet?”

Lance jumped, really wishing that they weren’t out trying to save the universe for once. “Uhh, yeah. Still kinda dull, but it’s building. We’re getting closer for sure.”

Keith nodded. “And, do you know what to do? Once we get to...wherever?”

Lance’s eyes darted to the side, thinking exactly the same thing. “I...I think so. At least...I think it’ll come to me. Allura wasn’t super specific with how this whole ‘inter-dimensional sensing’ thing worked. I think we’re just getting closer to where our universes match up, where it’ll be the closest we can get to the Malteans’ comet. But...after we find that point…”

“That’s when we’ll need Voltron.”

Thinking back on his conversation with Shiro, Lance knew it was coming. But again, he and Shiro still had to figure out the bonds with their Lions. Shiro had said Lance needed to trust his instincts. That trust was hard to earn. 

Kosmo trotted over to Lance, nudging his head on his hand. Lance gave him some well deserved pets, smiling at the big galoot, watching his tail wag with glee. Keith smiled at his wolf. 

“We’ll stop them. We’ve come this far after years of nothing. Everyone’s been able to slip back into their paladin spirit after so long,” his eyes drifted up, meeting Lance’s, “you especially.”

QUIZNAK Lance didn’t like when his heart skipped. He used to think that meant he had to go to the hospital because he was dying. Now, he still was, but it wasn’t due to any medical reason that he could think of. Keith’s smile was so soft and Lance felt so hot and the Atlas was DEFINITELY not at its comfortable seventy-three degrees. 

_ Instincts _ , Lance chided himself,  _ trust your instincts _ .

His instincts were being jerks because his first reflex was to blabber utter nonsense like an idiot. 

Lance leaned his arm on Kosmo, trying to keep his ground. The wolf responded by stiffening, being a support under him. Lance mentally gave Kosmo a piece of mind-jerky for being such a good boy.

He breathed in, then out. “Actually, there...is something, I want to talk to you about.”

Keith’s entire demeanor shifted. His legs moved with indignation. His shoulders rolled forward. His face hardened. But, there was concern in his eyes. His posture pictured someone ready to jump to action for anything, whether that be a knife strike or a hug.

Lance realized he’d seen this pose before, many times actually. Years of off comments about his own hopelessness, his apathy for doing chores, the bits of melancholy memories whenever they would be doing something fun together on Altea. Lance remembered that each time he was feeling down, Keith looked exactly like he did now. And that...that made Lance swell. It may have taken three years, but Lance noticed that Keith had always been ready to take up some of the emotional load. Maybe if Lance had seen it earlier, he could have let him.

….OHHHHH.

_ THAT’S _ what Shiro meant by someone mauling to be the first to help him.

Lance gulped, trying to let his gut guide him, but also trying to keep the gassy feeling of the Altean-alchemy-quintessence-tracking down. 

“I...I wanted to say...I’ve noticed...maybe just recently...Or maybe it’s been awhile, but...What I’m trying to say is—”

A loud alarm and red flashes of the emergency lights knocked every brain cell out of Lance’s head. An intercom buzzed on, Sam Holt's voice ringing in the halls.

“Attention Atlas Crew. We are approaching a cosmic goliath living in this part of the galaxy. Please proceed to your stations to prepare for any protocols we may need to engage.”

Keith and Lance looked at one another. Nodding, they both turned and ran down to the hall, headed straight for the bridge. Behind Keith, Lance’s face twisted with incredulousness, wondering what in the universe (*cough*Allura*cough*) could cause that horrible timing. 

 

\--

 

“So...it’s a whale?”

Hunk cocked his head to the side, trying to get a good look at the mass floating outside.

The cosmic beast was maybe half the size of the Atlas. It had a long gray body, sectioned off into about five or six giant reflective plates. In one way it looked like an armored whale, with four fins jutting from its sides. The only thing that deterred it from being completely whale-like was the three giant eyes at the center of its face, glowing a bright yellow similar to a searchlight. It’s mouth was long and flat like a whale shark, where the plate on its face stretched like a beak hanging over it. On its back, Hunk could see three giant humps that looked like they were composed of barnacles, with small holes dotting each of them. Hunk was reminded of a pumice stone. 

Pidge tapped away at her tablet, entering in her observations about the creature. “It doesn’t look mammalian. Maybe some kind of advanced cephalopod? But then it has flippers and not tentacles. Maybe a giant stunted sauropod?”

The door *whooshed* behind them, and Keith, Lance, and Kosmo trotted in. Their eyes locked on the animal outside.

“Holy Crow! That thing is gigantic!”

“Which is why we need to be careful. We haven’t dealt with this species before. Hopefully we can just slip by it without agitation.” Shiro had ordered the Atlas crew to maintain a cruising speed, not wanting any sudden movements to provoke the giant whale.

“Yes, but as they are a species featuring a trio of front facing eyeballs, plus an armored body, there is a clear 29.22 percent increase in the chance they are a territorial species, which in turn could at any moment—“

“Don’t need the commentary Slav!” Hunk was of course, prepared for the worst, didn’t mean he wanted to hear it said out loud. 

Lance stared outside at the beast. Its plates shimmered in the clouds of cosmic dust and distant stars. The glare reached the Atlas window, letting an oblong version of the Atlas's image hit his vision. The thing moved slowly, getting closer to a nearby planet. 

Lance was in awe of it. The last time he saw an animal this big in the middle of space was the Weblum they met before the destruction of Olkarion (an experience he did not find pleasant). At least this time, he could appreciate the marvels of space in peace. Keeping his head straight, he looked to the right in his periphery. 

Keith was just as engrossed in the giant whale. His eyes sparkled with curiosity, mouth tight against his lips. While Lance could sense the bit of cautious tension, he could also tell Keith was mildly interested in the beast before them. 

Then his eyes drifted downward, and he noticed Keith’s open hand hanging at his side. 

Lance’s own hand twitched. He could be reading everything he was thinking wrong. His own feelings were a massive tidal wave of sea funk that he didn’t want to try to sift through. Who KNEW what Keith thought or felt? The guy was still the same old gruff goof who was super serious all the time, cracked under awkward pressure, and was pretty sure still hadn’t officially accepted “Kosmo” as his own wolf’s name. 

But...Keith had been there. For three years, coming to the farm. Visiting Lance. Getting him out of the house. Making him laugh. That...that wasn’t just nothing, right?

Lance’s hand twitched again. Slowly, minutely, he inched it closer to Keith’s. If this was trusting his instincts, he might just be poking the beast. But Keith was an actions over words guy, so maybe, something like this could say it all.

Lance’s pinky was a nail away from Keith’s hand—

A bright flash of light brought everyone’s attention to the window. The whale opened its mouth; a gaping circle with spiraling, jagged teeth reaching into the back of its throat. A white ball of light flickered in the back of its mouth. Until a beam of blinding light shot out from its maw. The beam traveled like an arrow, fast and swift, and impaled itself right through the planet in front of it.

The Atlas crew gaped. No one said anything for at least ten tics as debris flew off the planet. Explosions from the blast point lit up their faces, the inner mantle of the planet collapsing on itself. Hunk was the only one who offered any courage, albeit quiet and squeaky. “Well...it’s no baby beluga…”

If that wasn’t enough, on the whale’s back, hundreds of little dots started to emerge from the pumice-like humps. Swarming like bees from a hive, they sped around the debris, and looked as though they were consuming it, as the rocks started to disappear from sight. Veronica typed in some code, and a screen popped up with a zoom-in on the smaller creatures. Shrimp-like insects, with yellow bodies and large pincers and mandibles, floated and devoured bits of destroyed planet. They each had two large, blade-like antennae, and tails that tapered off into a sharp barb. 

Pidge gulped. “So, we’re staying FAR away from those things, right?”

Shiro had his brow pinched tight. He had no idea if that planet had been inhabited or not. And that goliath just struck it for some symbiotic feeding practice. His first instinct was to go and survey they damage. But...he had his own crew to worry about. But how could he just sit and watch...he HAD to do something—

Just their luck, another whale sped right by the Atlas. The force of whatever magnetic waves it was giving off was strong enough to make the entire ship rock, shaking everyone inside off balance. If the first whale didn’t know they were there before, it did now. 

In that moment, everything went to chaos. The little shrimp-bees turned from their meal, and zoomed straight for the Atlas, knocking into it and latching themselves onto the ship. The other whale’s shrimp-bees followed suit, swarming out of the humps and flying for the Atlas. 

“Coran! We need to keep moving! If we idle those things have a chance to blast us too!”

“On it, Captain!”

Coran entered the maneuvers, and the Atlas began to move away from any direct line from the whales. Alerts sounded as more and more of the shrimp pounded on the ship walls. 

Sam scrolled through some of the messages. “Those things are stuffing themselves into our engine thrusters. If enough of them get in there they could make us stall.”

Shiro gripped the console. “Which means we need something smaller and more maneuverable to stop them. Or at least lure them away so the Atlas can get past.”

Keith turned. “The Lions can do it. We can be just as annoying as that swarm and create a distraction.”

Shiro nodded. “Coran, take the bridge. Curtis take the helm. We’ll go get those creatures off our back.”

A resounding “Yes Captain” echoed in the room. Shiro turned back to Keith. “Take the lead.”

Keith smiled, then steeled as he dashed to the door, his team following close behind.

“Come on team Voltron. Time to get to work.”

 

\--

 

Hunk had to admit, even if he was spiraling through space around giant cosmic beasts and in between little space parasites in the wake of a collapsing planet, he felt right at home flying in Yellow’s cockpit. 

Each Lion flew in a different direction, providing a smaller target for the swarm to be interested in, the bugs detaching from the Atlas to chase the big robo-cats. Keith swerved to look at the Atlas, free from most of the swarm and flying away from the destruction. However, he caught the large whales still curious about the larger ship, one already turning to consider a chase. 

“We need to keep the whales’ attention on us. Get in close and get them mad.” He pushed his thrusters, shooting the Black Lion towards the closest whale. Keith activated Black’s jaw blade, speeding right by the beast’s right flank, and running a line down it, sparks flying off the whale’s plates. 

Pidge and Hunk spiraled around one another, and then around the other whale. Reaching its rear, Pidge fired Green’s ion beam at the whale’s tail. Hunk shot high above it, then dived down, crashing Yellow’s back into the back of the whale. A loud groan, like the sound of bending metal, erupted from the beast, rightly angered by the attack. 

Both whales turned toward the Lions. Another noise, like jittering sonar, came through the paladin’s coms. The whales’ eyes flashed erratically in multiple colors. With that, the swarms of shrimp stopped and turned, finding their closest targets, causing each Lion to turn tail and run.

Lance flew Red as fast as he could, dodging pincers and mandibles. “Okay, we’ve annoyed them, NOW what’s the plan?!” 

Keith gritted, running from his own swarm. “Shiro! Those things are responding to sound. Use the Blue Lion’s sonar ray. Maybe you can confuse them.”

“On it.”

Shiro sped ahead and turned Blue around to face the swarm. He shifted his gear on his controls—

...And nothing happened.

“What?!”

Shiro shoved the control again and again, but no sonar cannon came popping out of Blue. 

“Come on! You worked before. What’s going on?!”

Nothing. Blue was silent. And the swarm charged for both of them. Shiro shot high above to somersault backwards, barely dodging them before the shrimp buzzed underneath him. 

Keith flew next to Shiro. “What happened?”

“I don’t know. The Blue Lion isn’t responding like before. Just give me a second, I’ll get it to work.”

Being faster in Red, Lance lured the swarm that was chasing Pidge away from her. “I don’t think we have a second to spare!”

Shiro clenched his teeth. He needed Blue to cooperate with him. He knew he couldn’t force the bond, and had to earn each other’s trust. He trusted Blue. But he was also in the bind that he had to save everyone. So why in the world was the Lion not responding?

A bright light in his window made him look up. One of the whales had its mouth open, a ball of energy pooling at the back of its throat. Shiro bolted to the side as a white beam shot where he floated a second ago. 

Hunk squealed, dodging the same beam. “We’ve got two giant whale tanks, along with their little calamari armies, and five pilots just getting their wings back. How did we think we could handle this right out of the gate?!”

Pidge swerved away from her swarm, flipped, and fired her ion ray at one of the whales. The beam left a graze, but no dent in the giant. “These things are impenetrable! How do we stop them?”

A *thunk* jerked her forward. Her scanner detected one of the shrimp latched onto Green’s tail, trying to munch on the Lion. 

“GET OFF ME YOU HORRIBLE EXCUSE FOR SPACE SEAFOOD!”

Pidge shifted her left control, and the Green Lion’s tail beam kicked in, disintegrating the shrimp. Pidge huffed out a sigh, but yelped as more of the bugs swarmed in front of her. She turned tail to speed away, the shrimp hot on her rear. 

Keith watched his team. Lions darted and dashed away from shrimp swarms, trying their best to land ineffective hits on the whales. Every so often, a whale would lock on to a Lion and fire off its mouth beam, the Lions thankfully fast enough to dodge in time.

That gave him an idea.

“Guys! I’ve got a plan. Get one whale turned away from the other one!”

Keith brought out the Black Lion’s jaw blade again, rapping it against the whale closest to him. He flew like a mosquito around its face, getting its attention. The whale’s three eyes blinked in a multicolored pattern, setting its attention on Black. 

Across the space, Lance and Pidge were flipping and looping to lure shrimp swarms away from Hunk and Shiro, the latter two knocking into their whale. The beast was getting agitated, groaning and floating to the left, trying to get away from its attackers. 

Keith saw the other whale turn, its side now facing in his direction. Keith circled around his own whale again, firing a couple of beam blasts in its face. The whale groaned again, drifting to face the Black Lion. It’s mouth opened slowly.

Keith got into position in front of the whale. All of his nerves were on edge, but he waited. His hands gripped tight on the controls, but kept his arms loose, ready to jerk them when the time was right. He watched the whale’s jaw expand, revealing the spiral of teeth that, Keith realized, kind of looked like the inside of a pencil sharpener. A bright white orb glowed in its throat. 

Keith steeled, holding his ground. The orb expanded and sparked, getting ready to fire. Keith prepped his next move, but the Black Lion jolted, something hitting its side. A group of shrimp clawed and gnawed at the Black Lion’s joints and wings. Keith cursed.

“Get off!”

The shout rang in Lance’s com. He turned Red around. Keith was struggling against a growing swarm of shrimp latching onto the Black Lion. The Lion was in between the two whales, and the one whale’s beam grew brighter and brighter. Lance could only think about how that beam went straight through an entire planet.

And it had a dead shot on the Black Lion.

“KEITH!”

Lance punched Red’s thrusters, zipping off and away from the rest of the team. He felt the jerking speed from Red, but he was too far away, and the whale’s beam was just about charged. 

Lance had one thought. One overwhelming feeling that rocked him to his very core. He didn’t care about how flustered he was earlier. He didn’t care about how his friends were teasing him before. His mind was set on one thing alone. His body was reacting all on its own, based on his emotions. Based on his instincts. 

_ I want to be by Keith  _ **_right now_ ** _.  _

Something inside him clicked. Red growled in his head, almost like  _ FINALLY _ . Lance felt his eyes sharpen, his senses open up like a nasal decongestant. He punched Red’s controls again, this time with enough force to knock his head back. Red flew with more speed than Lance had ever felt. He was sure they were a blur in space.

Then everything slowed down. Lance approached the Black Lion, covered and struggling with the shrimp. He had a split second to realize he was going to impact it, the whale beam staring to fire next to him. Instead of slowing down to soften the blow on the Black Lion, and send it careening off to leave him and Red in its place, Lance put everything he had into Red’s thrusters. Red hit Black, then pushed them both out of the way, just as the beam narrowly missed Red’s tail.

The beam struck true, right into the other whale. 

The stricken whale groaned in pain, a loud and echoing whine escaped from it. As the beam died, the hole going through it cleared out, glowing red from the heat. Its shrimp army flocked to it, touching down on its surface and surveying what happened to their large mobile home. 

The other whale let out a grieving bellow, and drifted towards its departed friend.

Lance panted out his adrenaline. It was close, but he did it, and was happy this time he didn’t need to get shocked and put on his own brink of...well right now he didn’t want to think about that.

He turned Red around, facing the Black Lion. It was looking up at him. A crackle from his com came through, Keith’s relieved voice ringing in his ears.

“Wh...whoa. Thanks, Lance.”

Lance had about one million and five emotions buzzing in his mind and body, the most prominent one being absolute joy that Keith was okay. But, he thought maybe a little disgruntlement should peep through. “Next time you want to do something crazy? Don’t. ‘Kay mullet?”

Keith blinked. Lance’s sarcastic snark came out a bit...harsh. Like he was legitimately upset over Keith’s fairly decent plan to stop at least one of those whales. If the shrimp hadn’t bothered him, he would have been fine. So it’s not like it was a COMPLETELY crazy plan. But...Keith wouldn’t admit it, but the concern was appreciated.

Speaking of the whale, it bumped into its fallen friend, trying to see if its pack mate would stir. Nothing. A growing growl turned into a siren, making the paladins’ speakers spike with distortion. Pidge winced, the sound loud and ringing in her ears.

“Okay, I think we’ve just made this one mad!”

“Of course we did!” Hunk felt the panic growing in his stomach. “We just took out its buddy!”

“Those things aren’t like Weblums, Hunk.” Shiro reasoned, “it attacked a thriving planet, and those bugs eat up the debris. These things are more like pests.”

“Big pests if you ask me. So how are we going to take out the other one without a giant whale beam?”

Keith knew how. “We need Voltron. That’s the best power we can give that can bust through the whale.”

Shiro gripped his controls tight. He knew that’s what they had to do. It was the only way. And he knew HE was the one that had to do something about it. But the Blue Lion was still silent. He concentrated so hard he felt his temple contract. They needed Voltron. He had to connect with Blue. 

And then all Naxela broke loose.

The doubled swarm of shrimp clustered together, becoming a giant mass of flying crustaceans. They sped right for the three of them, splitting off between the Yellow and Green Lions, clouding around both of them.

“Pidge! Hunk!”

Shiro bolted  for them. Small groups of shrimp broke off from the swarms, trying to block Blue from getting to the other two.

“We’re coming!”

Keith and Lance punched their thrusters, but a light from their side made them both shoot up. Another beam from the whale blasted below them. The beast had its sights set on Red and Black. They both somersaulted around, dodging another beam, and getting further away from their team.

Back at the swarms, Shiro tried shaking his own shrimp cloud, firing beams to burn off as many as he could. In his ears, he could hear Pidge and Hunk’s shouts, rocking in their Lions as the pests tackled into them. 

“I can’t take much more of this!” Hunk yelled, his controls locking as bugs latched onto Yellow, halting his movements.

Lance barrel-rolled around the whale, keeping an eye on its beam while also keeping its attention away from his friends. He took a look at the two swarms, tornadoing around the two Lions, making them almost disappear. He then looked off to Blue. Her movements were hesitant, and primarily shaking shaking off shrimp. It looked like Shiro was trying to find an opening, but one wasn’t presenting itself.

Lance thought back to their conversation in the hangar. What made up their Lions. What traits a paladin had to have.

“Shiro!”

Shiro looked across space. His eyes locked on the Red Lion, Lance’s voice in his ear.

“Quit worrying about what we have to do! We—no—YOU don’t HAVE to do anything! What do you WANT to do?!”

Shiro froze. His mind pressed pause and he took a second to absorb Lance’s words.

_ What do you WANT to do? _

Shiro was pretty sure, in his whole time of being a paladin, even as a captain, he’d always been focused on his mission. Determined to succeed at the task at hand. Making sure he was always the one to make sure the job got done.

He was pretty sure...no one had ever asked him...what HE wanted.

Right now?

He didn’t want Voltron. He didn’t want to stop the Malteans. Quiznak, at this point he really didn’t want to be in space.

He wanted to save his friends.

And that meant he wanted to do everything possible to save them.

A jolt, a vibration passed through him. A purr shivered throughout his body. The feeling of solidarity and passion gripped him in a tight embrace. Blue...Blue felt the same way. And the fact was Shiro could FEEL the same feeling. He could understand Blue. And she was yelling loud and clear  _ let’s get what you want. _

Shiro smiled and steeled, knowing exactly what to do.

He catapulted behind his group of shrimp, using Blue’s tail ray to pick them off, then faced the two swarms. Flicking his thruster forward, Blue opened her jaw. A bright blue beam shot out, hitting the swarm surrounding the Green Lion. Shrimp stopped flying instantly, being frozen solid and drifting lazily through space. Shiro went up and down with the beam, until the entire swarm was frozen shrimp.

“Whew! Thanks Shiro,” Pidge sighed. 

Shiro shifted and fired the ice beam at Hunk’s swarm. Again, the bugs became icicles, floating away from the Yellow Lion.

“Nice one Shiro! Looks like we could make a cocktail appetizer out of these guys!”

As Shiro made more shrimp-cicles, Pidge and Hunk trailed behind him, blasting the shrimp in their wake to get rid of them for good. After a few twists, turns, and blasts of cold, the space shrimp were fried for good.

“Phew! Glad those guys are gone! I think I’m taking shellfish off my menu for the next little while.” Hunk wiped his brow, slightly joking since his shrimp cocktail was one of his most popular items.

“Glad you guys are safe but CAN WE GET A LITTLE HELP PLEASE?!”

Lance’s shout vibrated in their ears. He and Keith zipped through space, avoiding beams and blasts from the space whale. Each time Lance struck with a ray, the whale turned to blast him, but he dodged easily enough, leaving Keith to give a shot of his own, confusing the whale. However, the beast was growing more and more agitated, using its tail to whip and try to knock them off balance. 

The three other Lions rushed forward, firing their own beams on the whale. Shiro tried the freeze ray on the whale, but the giant just shook off the ice, its hide too strong.

If that wasn’t enough, another wail and blinking of its eyes made the whale twitch, and another small swarm of shrimp buzzed out of the whale’s back.

“Can we just STOP with these things?!” Pidge shouted, careening to the side to avoid the onslaught of bugs. She flipped Green around, firing another barrage of ion beams, taking out a good portion of the swarm. 

Hunk slammed Yellow into the side of the whale, barely making the monster flinch. “We just don’t have enough firepower with just the Lions!”

Lance rolled around the whale, a trail of shrimp on his tail. Looping around, he shot out his lava ray, melting the bugs on the spot. Not a second later, he dodged the whale’s tail whipping in his direction. 

“Just keep at it! We’ll wear it down eventually!”

While Keith appreciated (and was elated by) Lance’s optimism, none of them were making a dent in the whale. As he dodged another beam himself, he considered his options.

“We may have to pull back. This thing is too tough and we shouldn’t expend too much energy.”

“Keith, these things are like an invasive species,” Shiro countered, “if we leave it alone it could wipe out more planets.”

“Then what do we do?”

Shiro gripped his controls. He knew, now, what Blue wanted from him. Blue wanted Shiro to be a support to the team. Someone that could help people move forward, but also someone they could fall back on. There was a reason the Blue Lion was the friendliest; it was so its paladin could in turn be friendly to others. The Blue Lion was a protector, a guardian for others to turn into. That feeling rocked through Shiro as he connected more and more with Blue. To leave people in jeopardy, especially when they could do something about it, was a thought he couldn’t shake from his head. He wanted to help. He wanted to get rid of this whale so others would be safe. 

A low hum echoed inside Blue. The lights in the cockpit flashed a bit brighter, the cerulean glow splashing over Shiro’s face. His senses heightened, feeling like he’d just been splashed with cold water. 

It had been a long time since he’d felt like this.

“Hey, guys—“

“Okay, so you all feel that too right?” Hunk chimed in, a little hope in the back of his throat. His arms buzzed with anticipation, the familiar sensation sending shocks down his spine. 

Pidge heard Green purr in her ear, the noise giving her goosebumps, a smile growing on her face. “Yeah, can definitely feel that.”

Lance felt like he was floating. He felt like the world was at his fingertips. That everything they’d been through was leading up to this point. He felt Red agreeing with him. He quirked a smile. “Just say the word, Keith.”

Keith’s mind was on fire. He could feel everyone, their Lions, their passion, coursing through him. Each one of their drives became his. He felt the Black Lion growl in his head, telling him that it was finally time. 

The whale whipped around, the shrimp following suit, getting ready for another charge. Keith almost pitied them for what was next.

“Everyone. On me! FORM VOLTRON!”

The Lions converged, a prism of colored light shining through space. They climbed higher, and came together as one.

 

\--

 

Lights flashed as the Black Lion roared, flying forward while it’s body shifted upright. Legs disappeared into its torso, creating four gaps to be filled. Green and Red twisted and spiraled around one another, dancing like a pair of streamers. They flew straight to the Black Lion, their limbs retracting and their ends connecting into Black. The pump of pistons and beams locked into place, a tight connection to secure the shoulders. Blue and Yellow rearranged themselves, their heads locking downward as their legs retreated as well. They snapped into place, metal clacking against metal as bolts fastened. Yellow even popped a fraction, shortening to compensate for its extra size compared to Blue. At the top, Black’s head clicked, the snout sliding open to reveal a humanoid face. The eyes sparked, new power coursing through the giant machine. With all the pieces in place, the mech stretched its limbs, feeling complete for the first time in two years.

Voltron had formed.

 

\--

 

Now, the image was a bit comical: a robotic amalgamation of five robotic cats, pieced together in the form of a humanoid warrior, staring down a giant cetacean Goliath that was at least fifty times its size, with an armada of razor shrimp swarming around it ready to strike. That, and the fact that instead of having five ships to try and face the whale in greater numbers, they formed one ship and greatly reduced their maneuverability and vantage points.

But hey, giant robot finally.

Each paladin smiled ear to ear, ecstatic. However their triumph would have to be put on hold. As the whale yawned and blinked its strobe eyes, the  shrimp drove surging forward. 

Voltron dodged to the side, then shot upward, avoiding a mouth beam from the whale. Voltron sent a beam at the beast, grazing it, but still offering no real damage. Another hand aimed at the swarm, taking out a few shrimp, but leaving the rest to scatter and get angrier. A few charged and tackled into Voltron, shaking the paladins a bit, but otherwise just causing an annoyance.

Keith gritted. “We need to take out the bugs first. Hunk, use your shoulder cannon.”

“Gladly! But those things are so jittery and fast, I don’t think I can lock on to them easily.”

As if it was a reaction, a suggestion, or an  _ I’ve got this _ , Shiro glanced to his side. Blues ignition slot opened up. He stared at it, a little in awe, and then summoned his bayard. He looked to both of them again. “Guys, I think I have what we need to do.”

“Then stop wondering and do it!” (Pidge wasn’t upset, just anxious to get rid of the space crawlers).

Shiro pursed his lips, then brought back his arm, sinking the bayard into the slot, and twisted it on. A cyan light expanded through his cockpit as the switch activated whatever it was activating. On his dash, Shiro watched energy reserves spike, power flowing rapidly from most of their systems to the back of Voltron. To its wings. It clicked what Blue was telling him.

“Face Voltron’s back at the whale!”

The others complied, turning the mech around, back facing the whale and bugs. Shiro watched his gauges, the power increasing until they peaked, all focused on the wings. With a *ding* from being fully charged, Shiro punched both of his thrusters forward.

White. Everything was engulfed in white. From the paladins’ perspective, their eyes were shielded from the blinding light thanks to the windows of their cockpits. Everything outside on the other hand was treated to a flare like a collapsing star. Turning back around, the paladins saw the whale jerk, it’s three eyes flashing erratically, like it was trying to blink and regain its sight. The shrimp swarm fidgeted and knocked into one another.

Pidge beamed. “It was a flash bomb! That thing uses its vocalization AND coordinated image patterns to control the shrimp!”

Keith didn’t bother marveling in the biology of the beast. His mind was on task. “Hunk! Shoulder cannon!”

Hunk clicked in his bayard, his system coming to life as the cannon materialized. His scanners picked up dozens of targets, locking on to each one. Hunk flicked his controls, and the cannon fired. Hundreds of beams blasted from Voltron’s shoulder. Ribbons of white whipped through space. Mini explosions lit up the sky like a fireworks display. Shrimp burst like popcorn, claws disintegrating from the beams. As the beams died, so did the shrimp, obliterated by the cannon.

“It worked!” Hunk cheered! It had been awhile, but he’d always loved using the shoulder cannon. He always felt good just to help out in a cool, spectacular way.

His victory would be short lived, as the whale shook its body, and three eyes locked onto Voltron, glowing bright red. It charged for the paladins. Voltron dashed out of the way, turning to watch the whale zoom by. 

“Its hide is so strong, how are we going to stop it?” Pidge rattled her brain, but so far all of their attempts to break through the giant’s shell proved unsuccessful. 

Keith gritted, thinking about Voltron’s arsenal of attacks. Two years wasn’t that long, but he still had to reach back in his mind for everything the giant mech could do. Voltron’s sword was strong, but they had to use the whale’s own beam to take out the other one. A fast, strong force of power that could quickly break through the plates—

Keith had an idea.

“Forming sword!” Keith punched his bayard into the ignition and clicked it once. Voltron’s hands smacked together, the massive blue blade erupting out of the jaw of the right hand. Voltron swung it once for good measure. 

The whale pivoted, shifting itself to look back at Voltron.

“Lance! I need your help!”

Lance perked, surprised by the order. He looked out to the whale. They were directly in front of it. Keith had just summoned the sword. He knew exactly what to do.

Lance punched in his own bayard, clicking it twice. Keith followed suit, turning his bayard in the ignition once more. 

Behind them, Voltron glowed again. But rather than a blast of blinding light, a small flash popped. On all the paladins’ scanners, they could see their thruster reserves increase, their max speed elevate. Their imaging schematics transformed. Voltron’s rocket wings thrummed with life.

Lance felt good. Like, yeah, they were staring down a vicious space giant that just destroyed a planet with a beam that could turn them all to space dust in a tic. But...he felt good. Maybe it was finally forming Voltron. Maybe it was back to being the right hand again. Maybe it was working with Keith to power up the wings. Whatever it was...he felt really, REALLY good.

And he was ready to feel even better. 

The whale opened its mouth. The back of its throat glowed, charging its attack. It was the perfect time.

They gunned the controls.

Voltron surged forward in the blink of an eye. It held the sword directly ahead. The distance between them and the whale closed instantaneously. A flash of light burst. It took less than a second for Voltron to end up on the other side of the beast. 

The whale was split right down the middle, head to tail. It’s sides jerked with residual nerves. And then it exploded, the energy from its mouth beam catching up to the action of being split in twain. Red and orange blasts rocked space. Voltron turned to look at its handiwork. Mini explosions popped as the whale’s inner power reserves reacted to the blast. The shock waves settled, leaving bits of space whale dust to float in the void.

There was a moment of breath. Of pause. Of relief. Then—

“WHOOOOOO BABY!” Hunk shouted.

“We did it! We’re—I can’t believe—we ACTUALLY did it!” Pidge stammered, her petite physique jittery with exhilaration.

Lance pumped a fist. “AWWW YEAH! How’s THAT for paladin bonding?! We’re BACK BABY!”

Keith let out the biggest sigh of relief. In reality, he was pretty sure that whale wouldn’t have been too much trouble two or more years ago during their prime. But after a heroism hiatus, he considered that spectacle not too shabby. 

Shiro leaned back in his seat. He breathed in and out deeply, feeling his emotions mix with Blue’s. 

“Thank you.”

Blue purred back, offering her thoughts. Shiro deduced Blue’s primary trait was for her paladin to be a support, but, now he saw it was also being comfortable with what you DID as a paladin. To not force yourself to do something, even something that was considered heroic. She showed Shiro that it was okay to do the right thing, not because it was right, but because you WANTED to do it. Her fluidity came from her own feelings; she could adapt to a situation based on what she WANTED to accomplish, versus what had to be done or what expectations there were. After being a soldier of the Garrison and Captain of the Altas, Shiro welcomed the breath of a fresh feeling, not obligated to do anything except what he wanted.

Which reminded him.

“Hey Lance, good work using your instincts.”

Lance blushed, imagining Shiro winking at him. He processed Shiro’s words. He used instincts forming the wing rockets, only needing Keith’s vague command to do so, sure. But what did Shiro—

….Oh.

Lance recalled earlier, seeing Keith in the line of the whale’s fire. How all of faculties focused on the sole desire to save Keith. He felt Red agree with him. How Red felt that, in that instant, Lance had been truthful to himself. How Lance acted on his gut and innate feelings and didn’t worry about anything extra in his brain.

But now all of the stuff in his head came back, and he felt pretty embarrassed (Lance was pretty sure he felt Red mentally grunt with annoyance, almost like he was saying  _ not this again _ ). Lance was happy he couldn’t see Keith’s face, because he was pretty sure he might combust if he had to discuss, well, anything right now with his leader.

Keith activated his video comm and Lance yelped.

“Let’s get back to the Atlas. Hopefully they didn’t run into anything else.”

“But what about the destroyed planet?” Hunk looked back over to the crumbling body behind them. The color already looked like it was fading from its surface. The clouds they could see dispersed, the atmosphere collapsing from the shift in the planet’s constitution.

Shiro looked on sadly, brow pinched with regret. If the atmosphere was compromised, there was nothing they could do. Unlike Weblums that targeted dying and dead planets, these whales were invaders looking for their next target so their shrimp friends could eat. He thought how similar they were to the Malteans; coming in unannounced, causing destruction, and taking what they wanted. Shiro could tone down his pity for the beasts with that thought. 

“We stopped them. Which means they won’t be hurting any other planets. At least not these ones. But we’ve got a bigger mission right now. Let’s go.”

They all punched their thrusters, and Voltron flew forward, ready to meet up with their comrades.

…

“...Hey….hey, Shiro.”

Shiro raised a brow, questioning why Hunk sounded so insistent.

“What is it?”

Hesitant sputtering crackled in his com, like Hunk was trying to stifle something. “Shiro...what are you?”

Shiro frowned, thoroughly confused. “What do you mean?”

“Pffftt….What….What ARE you? Now?”

Shiro was about to open his mouth to ask Hunk what in the world he was talking about, before stopping, shutting his mouth, and groaned. After they battle they’d been through, he decided to indulge a little humor.

“I’m...I’m a leg.”

“YEAH you are! Welcome to the leg family!”

The team let out a disgruntled, but also lighthearted, sigh.

 

\--

 

“I’ve just realized. We haven’t flown ONCE since getting back up into space.”

Rizavi looked to the ceiling of the hangar, leaning against her MFE fighter jet she’d nicknamed Adrestia. She and the other pilots were suited up and waiting in the wings (some literally ON the wings of their jets) for any orders in case they’d be needed. So far, the Atlas had only continued on its heading, waiting for the paladins to return from facing the two giant space whales. In the meantime, Rizavi had counted the tiles on the ceiling and recited the pilot’s creed about forty times, finding ways to keep herself busy.

“You’re complaining?” Kincade answered. He had his phone out, editing the Lance interview from earlier as he sat on Deimos, his jet. While he actually got a little invested and considered making a full length Voltron paladin documentary at some point in time, he was happily splicing Lance’s words to make it sound like a confession, maybe to use one day during a ceremony or something. 

Rizavi crossed her arms. “No, but I mean, we’re pilots. And we haven’t had a lick of flying. Makes me wonder if we should’ve just stayed on Altea for backup.”

“We are backup. For the Atlas and for Voltron. We need to be ready for anything.” Griffin had his own arms crossed and brow deep in thought, leaning against his plane, Phobos. “We’ll see some action soon.”

Rizavi deadpanned at him. “Dude, Voltron’s back. Safe to say we’ve been put on the back burner.”

Griffin felt his temple bulge. “Well...at least we’re here for support regardless.”

“Yeah, moral support.”

Griffin ducked, angry at her pessimism, but also at the fact she was kind of right. 

“The paladins haven’t been together for a long time. We work together. Their cooperation and bonding is more important to the mission than our flying. Being set aside until we’re needed is commendable.”

All eyes dashed to Leifsdottir. She was sitting in the cockpit of Harmonia, doodling on a notepad. Griffin blinked. “That was...noble...Ina. Guess we forgot those guys haven’t done this for a few years.”

“Yeah, which makes ME worry that they might need some help.” Rizavi walked over to Harmonia, climbing up onto the wing. “Whatcha drawing anyway, Leif?”

Leifsdottir turned her pad. On the page was a sketch she was starting to line. The image featured two figures, sitting atop the branch of a large tree. One had spindly legs. The other had neck-length hair. They were holding hands.

Rizavi squinted at Leifsdottir. “Is this a present, or blackmail?”

“Fan art.”

Rizavi burst out laughing, falling back on the wing. Leifsdottir turned back to her piece.

Kincade and Griffin just looked at each other, the former shrugging, before looking back down at his screen, going through a loop of Lance shouting “FLIRT WITH KEITH—FLIRT WITH KEITH—FLIRT WITH KEITH”.

 

\--

 

The bridge was tense. Veronica bounced her leg, eyes not really focused on anything. “We should go back. The Atlas at full form could easily take out those whale things.”

“Shiro said to stay on course. Plus those bug drones were small enough to get on most of our cracks. They’d tear up our systems from the inside,” Curtis rationalized. However, he was just as worried with his boyfriend stepping into a role after years of NOT. 

Sam tapped at his console. “They may be a little rusty, but they’re tough. They can do it.” He had to stay optimistic, even if his own daughter had jumped back in the saddle of being a fast-flying hero.

Coran, of course, was in a panic. His five paladins just got their Lions back. Their first time back in them, they crashed into a planet. Now they were taking on two giant cosmic beasts that could  _ destroy _ a planet. Part of him said to keep his faith, which he did. It was the other part that was a doting, delirious, desperate uncle that wanted to make sure his paladins...his friends, were safe. He’d watched them grow and mature, and that fierce protectiveness over them was something he could have never expected to feel when he popped out of the cryopod all those years ago.

As he considered following suit with Veronica to turn the ship around, a sensor dinged and pulsed on the console. Coran tapped the screen, and a video feed sprung onto the window. Flying toward them triumphantly, was a sight he hadn’t seen in a very long time. Coran teared up, knowing his team had found their mojo again.

“It’s Voltron!”

The crew cheered as the giant bot flew through space. Voltron did a ceremonial flip, then hovered in front of the Atlas.

“Atlas crew, Voltron reporting in. All accounted for.” Keith’s voice was a pat of relief on Coran’s shoulders.

“Glad to see you’re all okay! And glad to see you’ve formed Voltron again! Which means now we can get to the Malteans’ reality….however we’re supposed to do that, that is.”

Keith’s leader mode was on high. His team had just come out of a jarring fight, but they had work to do. He didn’t want to, but he called out, “Lance. Do you sense the comet?”

….

“...Lance?”

Oh, Lance could feel the comet, all right. His senses were overloaded ever since they formed Voltron. The sensation of the comet magnified, probably with the added power and quintessence that Voltron provided. The bubble in his stomach felt real close to bursting. Hopefully not in a gross or flatulent way. Lance gripped his controls, focusing on the feeling and where it was pulling him.

“...Yeah. I know.”

Keith nodded. “Then let’s go.”

 

\--

 

Voltron led the way, flying through space with the Atlas behind it. They passed through more dust clusters and gas giants. One planet even had ice rings that glistened when the ships passed by. All the while, Lance kept focused on the power that was growing stronger ahead of them. It was just like Allura said. He couldn’t exactly explain it, but even if it was a universe over, Lance could feel a similar quintessential power akin to Voltron, getting stronger and stronger the further they flew. 

And while he could feel the growing energy, Lance could equally feel the growing anxiety trying to share the space in his stomach. This was it. This is what Allura asked him to do. He was supposed to somehow get them into another dimension with Voltron and stop another group of bad guys from taking over the universe….universes. 

It terrified him. Yeah sure, they just rocked it against those whales, bonded with his Lion, formed Voltron, and all that cool stuff. But… they still had to somehow succeed. Lance teetered internally about turning around and heading right back to Altea. He didn’t know if he could take on enemies again. And last time they’d entered a fight they thought they were prepared for—

A low growl made his hair stand. Red sent disgruntled vibes Lance’s way, like he was trying to tell Lance he was going backwards. The connection Lance had just gotten back blipped. He took a deep breath, knowing that he had to trust himself. That he was doing exactly what he needed to. He hoped so, anyway.

They flew for a couple more dobashes, until Lance felt a jerk at his navel, like a bungee cord yanking after a dive, yelling out, “STOP!”

Voltron halted immediately, the Atlas slowing behind them. Lance took a minute to assess his feelings, pinpointing exactly what was going on with his body.

“Are you alright Lance? What’s going on?” The concern in Keith’s voice was sweet, but Lance had the growing ball of power at his center to worry about first.

“We’re...we’re here. This is the spot.”

The spot, was an open area of space. No dust clouds, no planets, no asteroids. Nothing. But, Lance could sense the same quintessence as Voltron, right in front of them. It was like a veil separated the two. Like all Lance had to do was pull back the drape, and the comet would be right there. 

His stomach expanded, the energy within him stronger than it had ever been. It was like that same balloon sensation with the Balmera crystal. All he needed was an outlet for it to escape. 

Shiro popped up on his video com. “Alright Lance, it’s all you now. What do we need to do?”

Allura hadn’t told Lance how to get to the other universe, but something inside him guided his thoughts, his actions. He had a backseat driver, offering hints and encouragement for the steps he had to take. He quirked his mouth, silently thanking the universe, which he knew meant also thanking a specific person, for the nudge.

“We need the sword,” Lance gritted. 

Keith complied instantly, practically shoving his bayard in the ignition. The sword sprung to life, elongating in the jaw of Voltron’s right hand. 

Lance breathed. He remembered what he did on Altea. How he slowly dilated the power inside himself, and had spread it to the Balmera crystal. He imagined doing that now, concentrating on his energy, and spreading it to the sword, to Voltron.

The giant mech brightened. The other paladins took notice, each of their cockpits lighting up with a white glow. The air in Shiro’s cockpit smelled fresher and cleaner. Pidge swore her sinuses cleared. Whatever indigestion that threatened Hunk’s bowels disappeared. Keith waited.

The power stretched through Lance’s body. In his own hand, he felt his thruster imitate the sword in Voltron’s grasp. The quintessence convened to the Red Lion’s head, to the sword. To Lance. 

Again, that same feeling. Except this time, he could put a voice to it. Allura’s kind command filled his being.

_ Now _ . 

Lance opened his eyes, then punched his controls.

Voltron brought back its arm, light following the path of the sword like a sparkler, then swung the blade downward. 

A strip of white marked the empty space. A rip formed in the space, the white expanding like a a tear in a curtain, pulling back to reveal another black void. Except, it didn’t match up with the stars they were looking at. Before them, a white, flaming portal flickered, showing a completely different space on the other side. The paladins and Altas crew all marveled at the sight.

Pidge tried to drink in everything she saw. “It’s...it’s like we just did what the Malteans did. We opened up a gate into their reality. 

Lance didn’t like the analogy, but it was true. He felt it deep down. Except, with his cut, he felt the energy slowly want to go back to normal. Instead of the mangled patch job that the Malteans left with their gash in reality, Lance imagined his cut wanting to stitch back together, and heal after they were done.

But they had to be on the other side first.

“Guys, it’ll only stay open for a little while. We need to get in there,  now.”

Keith braced himself. Now was finally the time. And while they were shaken, tired, and had high emotions from the day, he was certain they were ready. 

“Let’s go.”

Voltron surged forward, passing through the portal to the other side.

Coran punched in some codes, prepping the Atlas for the entry. “We’re right behind you!”

Curtis led the Atlas forward. The giant ship approached the portal. As they got closer, like a zipper on a jacket, the flaming edges of the entryway melted together into a single line, before snapping shut and popping out of existence, leaving an open area of space in its place.

“No!” Coran shouted.

The Atlas crew was left in shock, most jaws on the floor. Veronica’s eyes were wide, just having watched her baby brother disappear in front of her. Curtis sat slack jawed, torn between trusting that Shiro would be okay and freaking out that his boyfriend was gone. Sam had a silent panic attack, watching his daughter slip through his grasp, praying he wouldn’t have to go back to Coleen without her baby.

Coran felt useless. Yet again, his paladins were gone, and he had no way to get to them. 

He prayed to the ancients, and even to Allura herself, hoping that they could handle whatever was in the other side of that gate.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHALE, how did you like it? In case you were wondering, I teared up at the forming of Voltron. Dunno why, but I just got super emotional with it. 
> 
> Don't you just love our dorks. **Sighs**, just adorkable.
> 
> I'm on tumblr, twitter, and instagram for the posters and clips! Come say hi and throw your enraged shouts at me!


	9. Something Wicked

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Pidge run into some familiar faces. Hunk plays mind games. Red is Red.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's my dad's birthday today, so I thought, how about a present.  
> We're getting into the action now, so strap in for a ride.

Well...that kind of put a wringer in their strategy.

One of the things Team Voltron was counting on was the backup firepower from the Atlas, should things get sticky. It had rows of battlements and hidden battlements. It was outfitted with one of the strongest particle barriers their side of the Milky Way. And it could turn into its giant mech form the size of a city. 

 Guess that option flew out the window...or, rather... cosmic portal to another dimension.

The paladins sat dumbfounded, looking back to where the portal had just been glowing, now gone, along with any sign of the Atlas. They stayed quiet for about seven tics, before Hunk lost it.

“AAAAHHHHHH! We’re separated! We’re alone! How the heck are we going to take on the Malteans now?!”

Pidge raised a brow. “You don’t believe in us, Hunk?”

“I do! But those baddies brought the Atlas to its KNEES last we saw them! I was thinking we’d be going into this with two giant robots instead of one!”

“Hunk. Calm down. We’ll be fine. We have Voltron again and we’re together. We’ve taken on worse enemies in the past.” Keith sounded confident. That didn’t mean he wasn’t slightly nervous as well. It was a bit of a blow to not have the Atlas alongside them. But this was Voltron, his team. They could do it.

“You’re right Keith, let’s put our heads together and think of a plan.” Shiro was already mapping out what they needed to do despite their setback. Finding the Malteans was their first priority. They would have to deal with getting back to their reality later.

Pidge keyed in some numbers on her dash. “I’ve marked the coordinates for us to get back. Kind of like that OTHER other universe, once we’re done, we should be able to open up the portal in the same spot with few issues.”

Keith shifted focus. “Lance, how’re you holding up?”

Lance took another few gasps of air. He’d gotten better with his power after Oriande, but opening up a portal into another dimension was like a drain on his systems. He felt his energy come back to him more quickly, but still had the feeling of being a tube of toothpaste squeezed and emptied of its minty contents.

“I’m... _ haaahh _ ...I’m good. Doin’.... _ hufff _ ...doin’ great.”

Keith heard the exasperated smile behind Lance’s voice. Feeling a bit better, he focused on the task at hand. “Do you sense the Malteans’ comet?”

“Uhh, yeah. It’s like a marker on a map now. Really strong too.”

“Then let’s get moving.”

“HOLDholdholdholdhold up!” Hunk interjected. “Are we just going to barge in, guns blazing?”

Pidge crossed her arms, the grin on her face dripping with smug confidence. “Got that covered. Remember how I outfitted the Atlas with the cloak from the Maltean foot? I applied that to the Lions after we got back from the gas planet. We should be undetectable from the Malteans’ own tech.”

…

“...What? No praise? No calling me a genius?”

Shiro smiled. “Pidge, we all know you’re a genius. You really need to be told that time and again?”

Pidge stopped, a little embarrassment creeping to her cheeks. In fact, now it was almost more of a compliment that they  _ didn’t _ call her out on her smarts. She quirked a grin,  appreciating that her friends knew she was smart enough to figure out most of their problems. “No...just as long as you don’t take it for granted.”

“Trust us Pidge, it’s always a blessing.”

“Thanks. But I will say we might want to disband back into the Lions. The cloak may cover us, but Voltron has a significant spike in quintessence when we’re combined. I don’t want to risk that getting pinged.”

Keith weighed the plan, agreeing with Pidge. “Got it. We’ll separate. Lance, lead the way. We’ll take it slow, then see if we can take some cover before our next move.” 

Voltron disbanded, the five Lions circling around one another freely. Lance focused on the energy around him, feeling for the tug that had pulled him across universes. He pinpointed the power, then shot forward, his friends hot on his tail.

 

\--

 

Another fleet checked in on her schedule. Three scouting parties came back with more materials for the weapons division. She’d just received word that a planet in a distant sector had surrendered.

More boring day to day activities for Hira to occupy herself with.

She stood atop her console, looking down the catwalk of the informations wing of the castle ship. Scientists and military personnel walked between rows of computers, comparing notes and figures from materials acquired from conquered planets, to reads and data observed from multiple interdimensional jumps. 

Hira scoffed. All they were doing was biding time. Her concern had gone undermined, again. All of her pleas to go after those troglodytes, all for the good of the Altean Empire of course, had been dismissed. She was told to sit tight and wait. She hated waiting. She thrived on action. On making sure her enemies had no chance of retaliation, no matter how small the insurgency. The only thing a soldier should ever wait for is an enemy to falter in their attack, not for them to regain stamina and regroup. Hira’s face pinched with distaste. She steamed with pent up ferocity. Her mind wandered with thoughts of blasting that giant robot Goliath, exacting her revenge for being hit on her ship.

They’d come so far from so little. The Alteans that were always deemed weak but brilliant. Now, history would look back and see the power Hira’s people had. How the Alteans could thrive as a civilization, and push for intergalactic unity. That was an issue when Hira didn’t get the chance to show that control. 

Footsteps brought her vision up. Renfrin stepped lightly, carrying a tablet. His grey robes swayed as he walked, the red accents ribboning around him. He matched Hira’s armor, a sleek grey breastplate with leaf shaped pauldrons outlined in the same crimson. At the center of her chest rested a red jewel; hers was only ceremonial, compared to the ones on the drone sentries.

Renfrin stopped and saluted her, a quick gesture, bringing his hand close to his chest, grasping it closed, then thrusting it downward. “Commander Hira, two other scouts have secured interdimensional ore from a pair of primitive universes. Easy extraction from each. They are harvesting the energy as we speak and transferring it to the generator bay.”

Hira’s eyes contracted slightly, unimpressed even by a successful mission. “Pity. It would have been refreshing to hear about a struggle.”

Renfrin brought up his tablet, clicking away at some numbers. “This might please you. We’ve been seeing more quintessence spikes from Kilolima. One spike even peaking the levels.” He turned the tablet to her, showing the graphs of energy waves. One wave curved sharply to the top of the graph, the time stamp on it only recent.

Hira eyed the tablet, then brought her gaze back to Renfrin. The scientist clutched the tablet to his chest. “Seem familiar?”

Hira looked back down to the computer bay. “It’s intriguing. But even IF that is the case, I can guarantee we won’t act on anything unless we have an enemy knocking on pod doors. Have you made a statement yet?”

“No. But I was planning to. I just wanted to see if you had anything to say on the matter. Perhaps you’d like to offer the intel during court.”

Hira flicked her eyes like a switchblade at Renfrin. “If you wanted to make me look the fool by presenting this news, much like last time, I’ll have none of it. He’s set on playing out his patience. Besides, I assume he’s already sensed any energy himself. There’s no point.”

Renfrin gulped. Hira’s stare could freeze even the most temperamental of  soldiers. He wouldn’t admit it to her (despite her figuring it out) but he DID try to cause a little tension between her and their master. Hira was always reckless and trigger happy. Knocking her down a few pegs was what she deserved after their stand-off in Kilolima. 

Hira breathed out. “It makes no sense to wait if we’re so sure they’ll come to us. Those pests admitted to reality travel. That alone should cause alarm. We have been the only ones to have any interdimensional travel capabilities. Getting rid of them should be a priority.”

“Do you want to take a scout group yourself?”

“Ha. Don’t even try, Renfrin. You have a horrible tactic for trying to  incite treason that’s not your own.” She turned to square him. “I am a soldier of the Altean Empire. Even if I have strong opinions about our plans, I will follow the crown until I perish. Or until he does. Unlike you, I’m not here for the science, but for our people.”

They glared at one another. Hira never liked Renfrin. Then again, she knew Renfrin didn’t like her either. In fact, most Alteans didn’t like one another. With all that happened to their home, and what they rallied for their mission, there wasn’t really any room for camaraderie. At least not among the officials. All of their energy was devoted to being in favor of their Lord. So far, Hira had a pretty good favor, and she wasn’t going to let Renfrin ruin it.

Renfrin creased his brow, but saluted again, maybe a little rude jerk in the movement. “I’ll keep the report to the intelligence department then. Is there anything you’d have me do?”

Hira pondered it for a moment, then smiled. “Continue with the ore energy transfer, but lower our signature shields to eighty percent.”

Renfrin blinked. “Any particular reason?”

“We have no enemies in the vicinity. If he’s so sure about those insects coming to find us, then let’s give them a lamp to follow.”

Renfrin nodded, smiling himself. While not fond of Hira, she did occasionally have a twisted plan up her sleeve that tended to play out entertainingly. 

He walked off, leaving Hira to imagine several different scenes of battle, all ending with a cannon through the center of a robotic ship.

 

\--

 

Asteroids started to dart their path as they flew. Lance could feel the power growing stronger, like a mental game of hot and cold, and he could definitely hear his brain shout  _ YOU’RE ON FIRE. _

Pidge kept track of other energy signatures while keeping up their cloak levels. The last thing they needed was an ambush from an expecting enemy. Who would’ve thought that slicing off that sentry foot would have come in so handy? Not only had she reversed the sensors for the cloak, but she’d made sure to add the reads to her logs so she could track Maltean tech. Plus, she’d added the codes from the foot to her suit to use in case she needed to hack anything. She didn’t mention this to the team; not out of secrecy, but like Shiro mentioned, they already trusted her to have it all figured out.

She liked having friends smart enough to know she was smart enough.

Speaking of reads, a dot pinged on her radar. “Guys, I’m picking up a ship.”

They slowed their speed, waiting for her to continue.

“Looks like we’ve got a big mothership up ahead. Energy levels are off the charts.”

Lance nodded. “That’s where I’m getting the most feeling of a reality comet.”

Keith scanned the area. He could see specks of light up ahead, most likely cruisers or cargo ships flying back to base. Before he wanted to try engaging anything, they really needed see what they were up against.

“Let’s find a close enough asteroid for a vantage point. We can assess what they have and make a plan.”

They careened to the side, Pidge tracking the ping as they got closer.

 

\--

 

They touched down on a large asteroid, the Lions able to fit in a tight line, and more importantly, out of sight from enemy eyes.

The paladins huddled at the edge of the asteroid, peeking over to look at the Maltean base ship.

Hunk perked. “It looks—“

“Almost like the Castle of Lions,” Lance finished.

And it did, if the Castle of Lions flew vertically instead of horizontally, but Lance figured that was just their stationary position.

The Maltean castle ship did have similar features to their old home, but they were tarnished by harsh and jagged spires that looked clipped and shattered. The hull was a dark grey that offered no sense of welcoming. Red lights flickered evilly from windows and power pipes.  Cargo and transport ships flew in and out of loading bays. A few of the dolphin attack pods patrolled the perimeter slowly. 

Pidge turned on her visor, picking up signals coming from the ship, and translated them to her gauntlet computer. A few tics later, she had a collection of energy signatures from the ship. 

“Okay, there’s definitely a big power source coming from that thing. My guess is that they have their universe’s comet, along with any other ones they’ve collected on that ship. Which means they’ve probably got a lot of firepower on their side.”

“Yeah, that ship is white hot with quintessence.”

Four pairs of eyes shot to Lance. He looked to each one of them, a little self-conscious. “What? I told you I could sense the thing!”

Shiro looked back to the Maltean ship. “So if we’ve got any chance of stopping them, we have to take out their power. Question is, how?”

Keith looked to Lance. “You used your power to short out their ships before.”

Lance scoffed. “Yeah, when I had a Balmera crystal and it was a SIGNIFICANTLY smaller ship. Not a stronghold. Pretty sure I’d do a little more than pass out if I even tried that again.”

“But he has a good point,” Pidge interjected, “you can interact with quintessence like an Altean alchemist. Maybe there’s something we can do.”

As if a lightbulb was over his head, Hunk poked up a finger. “OOH! I’ve got something!”

Everyone turned, Hunk again surprised at the sudden attention. Understandable. He knew he had great engineering prowess, so battle strategy was a happy change of pace for him as well.

“Okay, I’m getting but deja vu vibes right now. This setup is almost like the first time we took on Zarkon in our first big battle. Well, the one we actually planned for, not the one where we kinda had no choice but to fight him. But back when we shoved his entire ship through that huge Teleduv.”

Lance raised a brow. “And that relates to now...how?”

“Well, if the reality comets are powering their ship, there must be a way to short it out. If we take out their power from the inside, Voltron can swoop in and take care of the rest. It’s not like we have to stop a whole empire. We just need to make sure they can’t reality jump anymore. Maybe we snag their comet so they can’t use it again.”

The team blinked. Then, four bright smiles beamed on their faces.

“Not a bad idea, Hunk.” Shiro patted Hunk’s back.

“Only thing,” Pidge perked, “we gotta get in to DO that.”

Keith surveyed the ship again. “If it’s like the Castle of Lions, the interior might be the same as ours was. Which means they might keep the comet where we had our energy core.”

“Or, it could be in a completely different spot,” Pidge countered. “Just because it looks like our castle doesn’t cancel out the fact that this is a different universe.”

“Umm, HELLO?! You’ve got your very own quintessence tracker here.” Lance pointed a finger down at his own head. “I can sense the comet’s location easy. Even if that castle’s insides are a bit wonky, I can find it.”

The eyes shot back to Lance, but this time he didn’t care. At this point, he figured he wasn’t done using his Altean powers just yet. Plus, he was their best chance at finding these transreality comets, being the most in tune with quintessence out of the team. 

Pidge smiled. “Well if you’re going to be our bloodhound, you’ll need a Sherlock to navigate and then hack into their system. I can get us through their security thanks to the data I downloaded from the foot, and then get them offline.”

Lance and Pidge fist bumped one another, solidifying their mutual plan.

“I’m going too.”

Eyes now to Keith. His face was stern and hard as a diamond. Lance quirked an eyebrow.

“Uhh, no offense man, but usually you try to keep infiltration missions down to the smallest and most essential team. Don’t need to add anymore people if we don’t need to.”

“You guys might need back up,” Keith said matter of factly. Pidge muttered out a “not this again.”

Hunk tapped Keith’s back. “Uhh, you’re also our biggest Lion. If things start getting sticky out here, we’re gonna need our tanks to keep the Malteans busy.”

“They’re right Keith,” Shiro rested a hand on Keith’s shoulder, “the smaller the team, the quicker they can get in and out. And having the three biggest Lions out here is our best safety net.”

Lance watched Keith. He was visibly upset. His brow was creased, trying to find a rebuttal, but understood everything they told him was right. His fists were clenched and twitching at his sides. His mouth was a thin line, wanting to say something, but zipping it tight so he didn’t say the wrong thing.

Lance stood and walked over. He looked Keith straight in the eye and rested his own hand on Keith’s shoulder. Keith blinked, a little startled by the sudden touch. He softened slightly when Lance quirked a cocky grin.

“Dude, we’re paladins. This is what we do best. We’ll be fine.”

…

That.

That was all it took.

Keith felt bubbling anxiety and nervousness in his stomach, thinking about Lance going off into the enemy’s stronghold (and Pidge too, but there was a distinct difference in the feeling). But the way Lance was holding himself. The crooked smirk tugging his cheek. The fact that he was exuding a confidence that two weeks ago was nonexistent. Keith felt like he was thrown back to years ago, to the same kid who dashed first onto the Blue Lion. No question of  _ is this dangerous _ ? Just ready to take on anything that came his way.

Keith…

Well, Keith melted. But he still didn’t like it.

Keith sighed, bracing himself. “...okay.”

Lance’s smile brightened, and if that didn’t make Keith into an even bigger puddle. Lance retracted his arm and Keith addressed his team. “Okay, so Lance and Pidge will go into the ship. They’ll find and take down the comet, powering off the Malteans. Once they do, we’ll commence a surprise assault and start the party. Once they get out, we’ll form Voltron to take down the rest of the ship, and stop their reality jumping days for good.”

The team nodded. Lance wrapped his arm around Pidge. 

“Alright, Team Cool is ready baby!”

“Team Cool?” Pidge questioned.

“Yeah, like cool colors, ‘cause you’re green and I’m blue.”

“You’re the Red Paladin. You fly the Red Lion.”

“Team Holiday?”

“Ugh…”

Lance laughed, rubbing her helmet as if he could ruffle her hair. She looked up at him. While not impressed with his choice of code names, she was thrilled that he was finally smiling.

 

\--

 

They watched the Green Lion rise into space, then disappear as her cloak activated, a burst from the engines kicking up dust on the asteroid to show it had flown off to the Maltean ship. That left the remaining three paladins with the four Lions to wait. Pidge had told them that once they were inside, they’d have to cut off their coms, just in case the Malteans could pick up on their frequencies. Once they took out the power, they’d signal back to their team to start the attack.

Keith watched the warship, arms crossed. He trusted his team. He trusted Pidge and Lance.

...he trusted Lance.

But he was still worried. They hadn’t been in the thick of an enemy attack for years. Even his missions with the Blades busting gang operations hadn’t been on this magnitude. Keith mentally reeled at how crazy fighting the Galra Empire had been, and how so much could have gone wrong for all of them. But they made it out. Keith could only pray that they could make it out of this too.

Shiro stepped in line with him, determined eyes on the enemy ship. “They’ll be fine. Those two can be pretty slippery when it counts.”

Keith gruffed in response. Shiro side-eyed him, then offered a soft smile. “...He’ll be fine.”

Keith shut his eyes, then nodded slowly. “I keep telling myself that.”

Hunk looked at the both of them from Yellow’s paw, lips pursed. Realizing they might be waiting a while…

“So...anyone want to play twenty questions?”

Keith ducked his head, remembering some silly games and performances back on Oriande. Shiro looked back at Hunk, raising an innocent hand.

 

\--

 

The Green Lion passed through the Maltean cruisers with the smoothest ease. Her cloak had always been the strongest of the Lions. Adding the data from the Maltean foot was Pidge’s self esteem boost for the day, not wanting to leave anything up to chance. While Lance could sense the quintessence, she also didn’t want to risk popping into an engine room and setting off a bunch of alarms. So she found an open and unprotected spot near the hull of the ship to land Green, giving them a great escape route once they were done. 

Pidge and Lance exited Green’s hatch and floated down to the surface of the ship. Using her bayard, Pidge lasered a hole in the hull and popped the metal, making an entrance for the two to get in with. They crept inside, feeling the generated gravity kicking in, and righted themselves up. They’d entered into what looked like a maintenance tunnel, red tubes carrying some kind of liquid energy above them. 

Lance summoned his own bayard, the red blaster springing to life in his arms. He took a second to breathe, concentrated, then felt the tug to his stomach, showing him the way to the comet. He signaled Pidge, and they set off down the tunnel.

They reached a set of shut doors. Pidge scanned the pass pad with her gauntlet, activating the code she’d created with the Maltean foot. A *ding* later, and the doors opened wide. Lance peered around the corner, not seeing anyone coming or going. They rounded the doorway and dashed down the hall, taking a tic to duck behind an alcove every once in awhile to check for any approaching enemies.

As they continued, Lance couldn’t help but marvel at how similar the ship was to the Castle of Lions. The hallway ceilings were about as tall as he remembered, with the same beams that curved up and framed it, red lights replacing blue. While he was relying on his Altean senses to find the comet, he felt a little muscle memory come back to him about which halls to take, and where to stop to get the best vantage points. The grip to his heart however, was turning the corner to the hall where, in their universe, their old bedrooms were. He wished he could have stopped, maybe check out his old room, but who knew what was on the other side now. Lance grimaced, but ran on, putting the feeling behind him to remember his duty. 

They reached the end of another hall, Pidge did her hacking thing, and they entered into another hallway looking a bit more sinister than the last.

The same tubes carried...something...twisted above. About three steps into the hall, Pidge yanked on Lance’s armor, pulling them behind a pillar to avoid a group of sentries coming down the opposite hall. They waited for them to round a corner, before Lance and Pidge darted to the right, down where the sentries had come from. 

Reaching the doors at the end, Pidge brought up her gauntlet and scanned the pass pad. 

…

And nothing happened.

She scanned again. And again. And again. And again and again and again and 

“What’s the holdup?” Lance whispered, bayard at the ready and watching her back.

“It’s not working!” She whispered back loudly. “This might be an area that requires a higher authorization than a sentry.”

Lance turned to her and looked at the pad. Scrunching his face, he placed his own hand on the pad. A *ding*, and the doors opened wide. Pidge and Lance blinked at one another.

“I know you said I didn’t turn into an Altean—“

“You’re not. It’s probably the powers. They might register that versus DNA. Come on.”

They crept down another tunnel. Looking at it, it reminded Pidge of the hallway that led to the generator room, maybe a floor above where it would’ve been in their universe. Replacing the plasma electricity beams that traveled throughout the castle were about ten lamps on either side of the hall. Orbs filled with a red and black, swirling energy lit them up, casting an eerie light on the two paladins. 

Lance looked up at the lamps. Each step down the hall left him feeling more dread in his gut than before. The lamps were not welcoming; his stomach was practically screaming at him to turn tail and run. But his memory triggered as well, trying to decipher why they looked familiar. His mind went to the Maltean sentries, and their red jeweled chests that had the same glow. But, there was something else on the edge of his mind.

“Hey, you getting a weird vibe from these lamps?”

Pidge turned and looked, shrugging. “They’re creepy, but I don’t feel anything.”

Lance looked up at another lamp. “I’m just getting a sinking feeling. These things aren’t exactl—WHAAAA!”

Lance shrieked as the energy inside one lamp thrashed and slapped against the glass, almost as if it was trying to break free and attack him. The thing swirled and jerked in its prison. Lance gasped, calming himself and backing slightly away from the creature (he could safely say it was a creature now, since NOTHING moved like  _ that _ that wasn’t alive). 

Pidge dashed over to check out what Lance had screamed at. She brought up her gauntlet and scanned the lamp. Looking at her computer, she watched numbers and figures dance and slide on her screen. What she found was...was impossible.

“I can’t believe this.” she looked up to the lamp. Lance followed her gaze. “These are those rift creatures! Like the entity we caught years ago!”

She typed in a few more numbers. Looking to the lamps, she followed their path to the tubes overhead. “Not only have they captured a bunch of these entities, they’ve found a way to utilize their dark quintessential energy and use it as alternate power sources. That’s what’s in their sentry bots too! Which also means they’ve crossed into the rift to collect these things. Lance this is huge!....Lance?”

Lance was quiet. He was watching the rift creature, eyes fixated on it. Before it seemed so scary and unpredictable. But now...he heard something, like a whisper in his ear. Something that was trying to let him know it was okay. A lull of peace and a promise for power. That nothing here would hurt him. All he had to do was open one of the lamps—

“Lance.”

He blinked. Lance felt like he came out of being half asleep. His hand was reaching out, trying to touch the lamp overhead. He brought it down quick, a little embarrassed. Lance looked down at Pidge, who wore a worried look, concern creasing her brow. 

Lance quickly breathed in and out. “I’m good Pidge,” he assured her, “I know these guys are bad. They’re just...a little persuasive I guess…”

Pidge frowned, unconvinced. Lance quirked a smile. “But I’m the flirt master here. No one's gonna change this guy’s mind for nothing.”

That got a smile out of her. She turned, still eyeing the orbs as she proceeded down the hall. Lance kept an eye on them too, but kept the intrusive thoughts from entering his head. 

His mind went back a few years. Back to when they extracted the rift creature from one of the Colony Alteans, Tavos, Lance remembered, and took it onto the Atlas. Lance could tell now how enticing the power was to use those creatures. How, for Allura, it must have been a shiny trump card to use the entity to gain a tremendous amount of power and save the universe. 

But that was then. It worked out...sort of, for Allura. But Lance still knew these things were bad news, and he wasn’t going to trust himself the same way with a glory goo from between dimensions. Plus, if the Malteans had CAUGHT and were USING these things, that meant maybe running into a bit more trouble up ahead. 

They reached the other end of the hall, but Lance’s stomach was leading them above. To his left, he spotted a duct covered by a vent. He pointed his bayard to it and Pidge nodded. They climbed up the ledge, Pidge wedging the vent out of its place, and climbed through, starting their trek through the duct system.

 

\--

 

“Is this person portly?”

“Yup.”

“Okay...and you said alien, right?”

“Yeah, that was question thirteen. You’re on seventeen now.”

Shiro tapped his chin, thinking. “Was this person a leader?”

“Yup. That’s eighteen.”

“Well I’ve got it anyway. King Lubos from Olkarion.”

“Nope. You got one more guess.”

“No?! How many other faintly green, round, alien leaders do we know?”

“Enough for Lubos not to be the answer. Last guess.”

“...the Arusian King?”

“And no! I win!” Hunk pumped his fists in the air, a victorious grin on his face.

“Well who was it?”

“Baujal. Leader of the Taujeerians.”

Shiro racked his brain, remembering their rescue on a collapsing and acidic Taujeer. That also reminded him that he hadn’t been in touch with the Taujeerians in awhile, and made a mental note that they should set up a small dinner meeting to catch up with one of their oldest allies. 

Shiro looked over to Keith, still standing at the ridge of the asteroid, keeping an eye on the Maltean ship. Shiro rose from his seat on the Yellow Lion’s paw, and walked over to his prodigy.

Keith was stiff as a statue, eyes like a scope, and lip tight as a drum. His entire concentration was on the Maltean ship alone. Well, scratch that. Shiro knew that Keith’s concentration was on one thing alone.

“You know, I can tell you’re focused, but you are also the furthest thing from being patient.” Shiro patted Keith’s shoulder a little hard, making the latter bounce under Shiro’s arm (also due to the fact Shiro used his robo arm). “They’ll be fine.”

Keith pouted, then sighed. A bit of the tension laxed out of him. “I know.”

Hunk observed the two of them. He thought about how it kinda looked like Lance did when his brothers used to visit the Garrison. Familial, a little teasing. Then it dawned on Hunk who was in the vicinity at this very moment. And that their coms were shut off from the two on the Maltean ship.

“Okay, everyone here knows what’s up, right? Keith? When are you gonna tell Lance you like him?”

Keith's face went from stark white to beet red in a matter of blinks. He felt two opposing emotions at once. One was that he could imagine himself shooting like a bullet through the ground and out the other side of the asteroid. The other was pure weightlessness that would let him float aimlessly into space. The unfortunate truth was he was standing exactly where he was, and had to continue listening to Hunk, with Shiro standing right next to him.

Keith stayed silent for nine tics just sweating in his suit, before Hunk prompted him again.

“‘Cause, it’s like watching two teenagers in school with you two. I know you like to take things slow but, I think a snail’s pace is an optimistic way to call your agonizing pining.”

Keith ducked his head, not wanting to offer a retort to that. Then he felt the hand on his shoulder squeeze slightly. Keith shivered, then turned.

Shiro... wasn’t mad. Keith had seen Shiro mad plenty of times. Oh no, this was the look Shiro would give him years ago at the Garrison, when Keith refused to do homework simply because he didn’t want to do it. It was the look that would lead with disappointment, but then flower into a lecture of how Keith was being a pretentious brat. The look that said  _ we’ll talk _ .

“Keith…”

“What?!”

“You really haven’t said...anything, after all this?”

Keith sputtered, turning to get a better look at his brother. “Do you really expect me to start pouring out feelings with everything that’s been going on?!”

“Some people might say it’s the perfect time.”

Two pairs of eyes darted to Hunk as he interjected. Hunk shrugged. “I mean life threatening adventures. The romance of flying through space. The nostalgia of reliving the old days. Seems like a pretty good set up to me. Plus Lance has been in the best mood in one week than the past three years. Seriously dude, your window is open with a warm apple pie in the sill and you’re turning your nose up at it.”

“We’ve been a little busy, Hunk!”

“So you ARE planning on telling him?”

Keith shut his mouth. He looked back up to Shiro, a smug smile growing on his face. Keith pursed his lips, reminding Shiro of the fact there was just some baby fat Keith could not escape.

“I don’t know...we’ve had other things on our minds.”

“Keith I just want—“

“I know what you said, Shiro, I do. But...this whole mission...who knows what we’ll be doing after it? What...what we’ll all...WANT...after we’re done.”

Shiro shot up a brow. “Do you think…that with Lance getting back his confidence, that he’s not going to need you?”

Keith gritted. “I’ve tried to cheer him up for years. What happens when he’s already... cheery?”

“Dude, if you know Lance like I  _ know  _ you know Lance, and like how  _ I _ know Lance, then we both know he still needs you.” While Hunk was pretty sure that was some sagely advice, even he had to do a mental one-eighty to get that straight. “If you think Lance is just keeping you around because you OCCASIONALLY make him happy, then I’m gonna have to take you back to the school of upper loverboy education, or SOULE, as I fondly call it.”

Shiro smiled. “Thus, why I said to tell him sooner. Gives you an answer, rests your fears, moves the conversation forward—“

“But—“

Keith cut himself short. Shiro cocked his head to the side, Hunk following the motion himself. A double “But?”

“But...what if...he doesn’t feel the same way?”

Keith felt a jerk to his head. Shiro was rubbing his helmet, similar to how Lance rubbed Pidge’s, trying to reach Keith’s hair to ruffle it. Shiro beamed at him.

“Well, I guess there’s only one way to find out.”

Keith lightly pushed him away, knowing Shiro was half teasing and half offering legitimate advice. He looked down. Keith knew the answer, but that didn’t mean he liked it. Or, it didn’t mean he wanted to. He recalled his conversation with Lotor, feeling the ease of pushing the feelings away before he could get hurt. But, that wasn’t going to help anything. Not in theory, at least. 

Keith looked back to the Maltean ship, hoping everything on the inside was going smoothly.

…

“But just so we’re all clear you have been about as obvious as an Arusian standing behind a Bii-Boh-Bi, so if you could hurry that part along it would take a huge weight off all our shoulders.”

Keith’s brow twitched, his nostril inching higher. He was almost ready to challenge Hunk to a thumb war, or maybe ask Shiro to do it, using his robo arm.

 

\--

 

The air duct could be more cramped, Pidge thought.

She shimmied behind Lance, twisting and crawling through the metal tunnel. They would stop occasionally when her scanners would pick up sentry signatures, keeping quiet until they passed. Despite her suit’s temperature regulation, Pidge was sweating. This was the first infiltration mission she’d been on since the end of their Voltron days. One false move and they’d be space toast. But, it was also exhilarating, being in the belly of the beast with a plan to dismantle their systems using her own wit. Just like old times.

Lance led them to another grate. Pidge squeezed by him and brought out her bayard, wedging it into the metal and popping the vent. She peered out, checking if the coast was clear, then plopped down, Lance behind her.

They landed in a dark hall. Doors lined both sides, lights at the top showing each one had a small window. They’d come across a prison wing.

Lance summoned his bayard and Pidge activated her gauntlet computer, logging their path for their escape route. They walked slowly down the hall, keeping their footsteps light. 

Each step forward made Lance’s stomach contract. They were going the right way, but whatever was on the end of the tug was...not good. It was as if the veil between their realities had masked the grotesque sensation of this universe’s comet. Lance just wasn’t sure why. If what Allura said was true, all these transreality comets were the same as Voltron; masses of a quintessential ore meant for stabilizing and traversing universes. Whatever the Malteans did to theirs….Lance pushed on, knowing he’d find the answer once they got there. 

“I think this hall is meant to be the same one that leads to the engine room,” Lance whispered. “Why would they make it a prison?”

“Beats me.” Pidge watched her screen. “Maybe they use their energy source as their disposal as well. Remember the Teleduv almost incinerated us on the Castle of Lions.”

Lance gulped, not liking the image. “Why do that when you can just toss someone out of an airlock?”

Pidge shivered. “Well, remember how quintessence is in everything? Guess they just add a couple of coals to their fire when they need it.”

“Okay, Pidge,” Lance’s whispers were growing, “you really didn’t need to go there with the imagery. It’s bad enough that these guys mess up literal space with their reality jumps, now you have to drag people into—“

“Excuse me? Is someone out there?”

Lance jumped right into Pidge’s arms, the smaller paladin straining to keep a hold of him, before dropping him to his feet a few seconds later. Lance trained his rifle on the door where the voice came from, Pidge brandishing her own bayard. They stayed silent.

“Umm, not to intrude on your conversation? But you don’t exactly sound like guards. All whispery and whatnot.”

The two blinked. The voice from behind the door was definitely a man, elderly, but high pitched. It also had a distinct accent that carried long “a’s”, and sounded as though most of the words came from the back of the throat. 

Lance and Pidge looked at one another, realizing this voice was  _ uncomfortably _ familiar. 

 “No way.” Lance approached the door’s window. “...Coran?”

A brush of orange popped up in the window, making Lance jump back. On closer inspection, he caught a pair purple eyes staring intently back at him, a little spark in the gaze. Smile lines wrinkled around them. 

“That’s me! But, can’t say I know the pair of you. Certainly don’t look like guards either.” He gasped loudly. “Are you a pair of rebels?!”

Lance was about to answer before Pidge slapped a hand on his mouth. This guy might be another Coran, but he was still a Maltean Coran. The less information they gave him, the better. “Uhh, yeah. We’re totally rebels. Here to take down the Altean Empire once and for all.”

Coran pinched his chin. “Well, that’s interesting, since the Empire wiped out their rebel forces decaphoebs ago, and there hasn’t been any sign of retaliation or mutinous groups since the annihilation of the rebel base Olkarion. So you’re either new, or lying.”

Pidge gulped. Alternate universes sucked. You didn’t know what was true in one reality and tossed out the door in the next. 

Maltean Coran waved his arms behind the door. “Nononononono you misunderstand. If you ARE rebels, that's great! If you’re lying, I just hope you  _ are _ here to stop the Empire.”

Lance lowered his rifle. “You’re against the Mal—I mean Alteans?”

Coran pouted, deadpanning. “Good sir, I’m behind a cell door. Have to say some context clues might be in order. Come to think of it, how might you two know my name if you are new or not rebels? Haven’t been a popular subject myself since Pop Pop built the weapons fortress on Altea.”

Pidge weighed their options. Maltean Coran made a good point; if he was put in jail by his own people, that could mean they saw Coran as either an enemy, or someone to keep an eye on. That didn’t rest her ease, because who knew if THIS Coran wasn’t some evil mastermind in the Maltean universe. Then again, it wasn’t like it mattered that much; the paladins were enemies here no matter what. She decided,  _ enemy of my enemy, I guess _ .

“We actually know another version of you, from another universe. The Altean Empire attacked us, so we’re going to stop them from their reality jumping once and for all.”

Coran squinted at her. “If that’s the case, your armor...,” Coran’s eyes lit up with delight. “Oh this is fantastic! You can finally end all of the chaos the Empire has caused to all those poor realities!”

Pidge really wasn’t expecting such an enthusiastic response to taking down this guy’s own people. But, maybe that just meant Corans in all universes were just inherently good; a thought she could keep with her.

“Why are you imprisoned anyway?” Lance inquired.

“Oh I helped build this ship! Or at least, took up the reigns after Pop Pop, may he rest with solace. But, since I know everything about how it runs, they didn’t want me causing any trouble, but they also couldn’t get rid of me, since, well, I know how the ship runs. So, that’s why I’m here.”

“For how long?”

“Oh, about ten decaphoebs. And in all that time they couldn’t work on their prisoner menu at least once. You can only have so much nutrition slime before you start craving other flavors.”

Taking that to mean “food goo”, Lance creased his brow with pity. Sure, he wasn’t  _ their _ Coran, but he was a Coran nonetheless. Lance raised his rifle. “Hold on, we’ll get you out of there.”

Coran sputtered, flinging his hands again. “NO! Don’t do that! If they catch me out of the cell it could mean catastrophe!”

Lance raised a brow. “But, don’t you want to get out?”

“I WANT to have the Empire stopped. If anyone starts coming I can defer them away from you.” Coran pointed down the hall. “The engine room is down this hall, make a left, go down that hall, then take the second right, and you’ll reach the maintenance door at the end. That’ll get you to the engine room with the least amount of resistance.”

Lance and Pidge looked at one another, a little nervous about leaving, well, a version of their friend, alone and imprisoned. Maltean Coran must have noticed their dilemma, and just smiled.

“This is my universe, and I have to own up and live in it. If you all can somehow stop all of this tyranny, then that’s all I need.”

Lance smiled, sad that he was leaving someone who was a glimmer of good in the abyss they’d fallen in. But, unfortunately, Coran made a point. It would be a little weird to come back to their own universe and have two Corans running around.

Lance looked at him in the eye. “Coran, you are a gorgeous man. Inside and out.”

A little blush dusted the Altean’s cheek. He coughed, letting the color fade. “Hrmm, that does have a ring to it. Have to remember that one. Now get going before any guards come!”

Pidge and Lance offered their salutes, and dashed down the hall per Coran’s instructions.

They took the left, then the second right, and sure enough, there was a small door cramped at the end of the hall. Pidge tried her scanner, but the door bounced, denying her code. She nodded to Lance, who placed his hand on the pad, and the door opened wide.

“Room” didn’t exactly describe what they walked into. A giant observatory-like space opened up to them. On one side, a large platform expanded out over a tunnel drop. Catwalks cascaded up above them, monitors blinking with energy inputs and routes. Red electricity flashed in tubes, keeping the evil glow motif forever prevalent. On the other side, a great domed window showed the stretching galaxy, the Maltean ships flying every which way outside. It would have been a nice view, if not for being inside an enemy ship where they could get killed if they were discovered. 

Pidge scanned the platform, and picked out what she needed. “There’s a control panel over there.” She pointed. Sure enough, close to the edge of the platform sat a computer console. 

They dashed across the catwalk. With each step, Lance felt his stomach lurch. This room...it was evil. Plain and simple. Something in here felt so wrong and dark that all of Lance’s nerves said  _ RUN _ .

They reached the console and crouched. Pidge wedged open a hatch with her bayard and looked inside. “Okay, so a little more complex than the Castle of Lions. I see a large connector that probably is the main power, but what I need to know is where their reality jump power goes. Can you shine a light while I work with these wires?”

…

“Lance?”

She looked over. Lance was hugging his stomach, face pinched with strain. He was taking deep breaths to try and settle himself.”

“Lance, are you okay?!”

“I’m...fine...this place is... _ rrrgghh _ ...not good.”

Pidge was of course concerned, but they still had a job. From their initial entry, there wasn’t anything she caught that would set off red flags of “danger”, per se. She looked around again. Realizing she hadn’t checked the open tunnel thoroughly, she poked her head over the top of the console.

A large metal...thing...looked like it was standing in the shaft. It looked like an island platform, but had two sharp spires jutting out on opposite sides of it. Not being able to get a good look, Pidge crawled to the side around the console and stood.

Her blood froze in her veins.

It wasn’t a platform.

Literally, standing in the shaft, a gargantuan figure loomed in front of the window. Connectors streamed along its back, transporting quintessence throughout the systems in the chamber. Spiked bat-like wings protruded between the tubes. The “platform” was actually a head, decorated in a sharp and spiked helmet, like a crown of daggers. It was painted with the same bloody red the Malteans used in most of their color schemes, along with a body comprised of black and grey. Sharp shoulder plates stretched down into arms, ending in, Pidge gulped, in two snarling metal...beasts...since there was no resemblance to anything remotely like a lion.

It was Voltron. 

A twisted, perverse version of Voltron that chilled Pidge to the bone. The Lions looked morphed, like something between that and a dragon or reptile. 

“L—Lance. It wasn’t a comet you were sensing.”

Lance groaned, raising himself up to join Pidge’s side. He turned and followed her gaze, then felt his stomach drop completely, almost vanishing from inside him. His eyes went wide.

“No…”

“They HAD a comet, and they made their own Voltron too. THAT’S how they’ve been traveling. They’ve been boosting its power with all the comets they collect to make an evil, reality hopping Voltron!”

“So,” fear was making Lance’s voice shake, “so what—what do we do?”

“If we cut off the power to that thing, that gives us time to strike when they’re dealing with trying to turn it back on. Where do you see those tubes running off it’s back?”

Lance looked, and could only see that the connectors led down lower into the tunnel. They were probably about two floors below them.

“Think we can jump down?”

“And risk falling into a tunnel spiking with evil quintessence? Let’s see if we can find a way down. Maybe we can talk to Coran again,” Pidge reasoned.

“You won’t be asking him anything.”

Lance and Pidge jumped, pivoting around.

Commander Hira stood at the end of the platform in front of the main door. Flanked at her sides were four sentries with trained rifles on the pair of paladins. Hira smiled with venom, her arms proudly behind her back.

Lance cursed. “Are you kidding me?! Coran sold us out!”

“That foolish mechanic isn’t intelligent enough to know when he has an opportunity at redemption. He may have helped build this vessel, but he forgot one simple, yet crucial element of its design,” Hira paused, savoring the answer on her lips. “We have cameras.”

Lance didn’t bother waiting. Fast as lightning, he shot a pair of blasts to Hira’s left, hitting each sentry right in the chest, cracking their jewels. A smoky redness flowed out; the rift creatures thrashing and dying from  being freed from their enclosures. 

The two other sentries started to shoot. Pidge and Lance brought out their shields, deflecting the shots. Hira bounded for them, brandishing a black Altean broadsword, bringing it down on Lance’s shield. He backed, the force strong enough to make his arm jerk. Hira slashed again, driving Lance backward. Pidge came to his aid, slashing with her bayard and pushed Hira to jump back. 

The sentries activated their electric bayonets, and charged to help their master. Hira turned her attention to Pidge, thrusting her sword at the shield. Being much smaller, Pidge skidded back a couple of feet from the blow. Pidge ducked another strike and rolled out of the way.

Lance one-handed his rifle to keep his shield up, shooting at the advancing sentries. He hit one, knocking it down, but the other swiped its bayonet at him. Lance pressed with his shield, electric sparks flying. He pushed the sentry, knocking it off balance, turned, and kicked it in the chest, breaking the jewel. 

Lance scrambled back, the rift creature writhing as it rose. Lance felt like he could almost hear it wail, before it fizzled out of existence. 

As soon as they evened the numbers, the doors opened, and four more sentries entered and started shooting. 

Lance got an idea. “Pidge get off the ground!”

Pidge wasn’t exactly sure how to do that, but she took the hint and jumped as high as she could, activating her jet pack. While the artificial gravity was fighting her, Lance only needed a few seconds anyway.

Lance let his stomach expand, feeling his skin tingle, then he shouted loud and angry, mashing his fist to the ground. An electric pulse waved through the platform. The sentries jerked with the overload. Hira cried out, collapsing from the shock.

As soon as it started, it was over. Pidge landed, safe from the aftershocks. Lance sighed, then collapsed himself, the exertion of energy along with the repulsion from the anti-Voltron straining his body.

“Lance!” Pidge shouted. She took one step before losing her balance, getting pulled out under her feet and tossed to the edge of the platform. Hira lunged at her, landing on top of her. Pidge met Hira’s hands, struggling in each other’s grip. 

“Pidge!” Lance called. He tried to stand, but his energy was exhausted, taking time to return after a blast like that.

Hira snarled. “I will crush you and your inferior band of insects. No one can stop the Altean Empire!”

Pidge grunted, the Maltean much stronger than she was. She felt her arms turn to jelly, the air leaving her lungs with Hira’s knee on her stomach.

Then, in all of Pidge’s brilliance, she got a stupid idea.

Shifting her weight and position, Pidge brought her head up, and smashed her helmet in Hira’s face.

Hira yelped in surprise, giving Pidge the chance to lift her legs up, kicked, and launched Hira overhead, the Maltean flying behind her.

Pidge flipped over and turned. Hira was gripping for dear life over the ledge of the platform. Her face was twisted with disgust.

“That... _ rrrgh _ ...was dirty.”

Pidge glared at her. “Yes. It was. Save honor for a competition, not your life.”

In a split second, Hira’s grip slipped. Pidge tried to reach out on instinct, not completely heartless. But Hira fell down, down into the shaft. 

Pidge gasped, a little unnerved with what just happened, but sighed, remembering her friend was still on the ground.

“Lance we gotta—!”

“That, will be enough.”

Lance was upright, in the arms of a sentry, struggling to break free. The scientist Maltean was standing next to it, multiple other sentries with their blasters on Pidge. Pidge instinctively brought up her bayard, activating the crossbow.

“Ah—ah—ah,” Renfrin tutted, “you don’t seem to be in that kind of position.”

The sentry gripping Lance squeezed. Lance cried out. Pidge flinched but still held her bayard up.

“Don’t...don’t listen to him Pidge!”

Another squeeze brought out another yelp. Pidge’s hands were shaking.

“It really is in your best interest to surrender. Considering your only other option is, well, death.”

Pidge couldn’t risk Lance. He was her second brother. She’d lost her family over the years and, yeah, got them back. But she never wanted to go through that again. Her hands started to dip—

A wink from Lance caught her eye. She saw him jerk his head up twice, motioning towards the sentry’s head. Pidge read his lips:  _ accurate. Not precise. _

Pidge understood. In less than a second, she shut an eye, aimed, and fired three quick shots.

The last one hit the bullseye.

The sentry was knocked back by the shot and Lance kicked out of its grip. He swiveled and kicked Renfrin in the side, sending the Maltean toppling over. He flung his hands behind him, sending a small but effective shockwave through the sentries, toppling them over. Lance stumbled as he reached Pidge, the Green paladin catching him.

“We’ve got to get out of here!”

As if their luck couldn’t get worse. Running through the doors were four Maltean guards, dashing like ninjas. With no strength in Lance’s limbs and Pidge supporting his weight, they fell under their captors, feeling their arms twist in restraint behind their backs.

Renfrin took a shaky stand, glowering at the two of them. “Put these two in a cell immediately. If they’re here then they’ve brought their comet as well. We can get a great deal of information from them.”

The Maltean guards began to hoist them up, Pidge and Lance struggling against them—

“Renfrin. Did you find our intruders?”

The Malteans holding Lance and Pidge suddenly thrusted the pair’s heads down. Lance and Pidge were forced to look at the floor, only able to hear the conversation between Renfrin, and this older, slightly calming voice.

“Ye—yes my liege. I have found and apprehended these warriors. They’re the same ones from Kilolima, as my data reads inferred.”

There was a pause, the air so calm it was impossible to imagine a fight had just occurred.

“...Where is Commander Hira?” the voice questioned, almost innocently.

Renfrin coughed. “It is with my deepest condolences that, she has been disposed of by the smaller soldier. She was thrown off the side into the chamber. I do apologize, my lord.

Another pause. Lance could feel a sinister and annoyed energy replace the calmness.

“...Did anyone look?”

“L...Lord?”

Footsteps echoed on the platform. Lance could barely raise his head to see a pair of black and red metal boots walk across the way. They stopped. Lance twisted his head to the side. He saw a large figure, not burly, just tall and defined under more black and red armor, a cape trailing behind him.

 The man raised his hand, and Lance felt a jerk in his stomach, like it was saying  _ PAY ATTENTION.  _ The man’s hand glowed red. A few tics later, and a form rose from the chasm. Hira floated up and landed softly next to the larger Maltean, breathing hard with strain.

“Haah—Thank you...my lord...my...my grip wasn’t going to...last much longer.”

“You were fortunate to find the lower level ledge.”

“Y...Yes, my lord.”

The figure turned, and Lance and Pidge balked.

His armor was a red body with gash-like streaks running up the torso. His hair was stark white and long, flowing but scraggly and unkempt. His beard was the same, tangling as it reached just above his chest. His dark complexion was sallow and sullen, like he’d been drained of life and left to dry. Eyes that Lance could imagine once may have been a crystal blue were icy and piercing, no light in them. On his cheeks, green marks stretched from the corners of his eyes and down to his chin, reminding Pidge of snake fangs. While looking more mangled and beaten, the similarity was unmistakable

They couldn’t believe it.

It was King Alfor.

Well, more like Pidge COULD believe it, but she definitely wasn’t expecting it. 

Alfor stepped towards the paladins. He looked over them, his gaze uninterested and unnerving. They struggled to try and get out of their captor’s grip. Alfor eyed Lance.

“...So, this is what caused you some trouble during your assault.”

Pidge struggled again, Alfor looked at her with displeasure.

“All the comets you’ve collected, jumping realities and scarring space time, your evil Voltron. All just so you can take over the multiverse?!”

Alfor didn’t laugh, but an amused glint passed through his eyes. 

“A naive fool.” 

He looked back over to Lance, curiosity pinching his brow. Lance shuddered, wanting nothing more than to be out of this guy’s line of sight. Lance remembered the AI Alfor on the Castle Ship, and how nice he’d been...well until his AI got corrupted and Lance almost got shot out into space. This Alfor, was much, MUCH scarier.

Alfor raised a brow. “So...you’ve been blessed by Oriande as well.”

That shocked Lance’s systems. “Wait, you have an Oriande here?!”

Pidge shot him a pointed look. He really didn’t need to give any information to these guys.

“Oriande transcends realities. It is a gateway from the ancients to keep the secrets of the universe, so those who are worthy may unlock them. But...it would appear they are wasted...on a cur like you.” Alfor grimaced. “You’re not even Altean.”

While Lance didn’t want to, his gut was telling him this wasn’t right. That everything was about to go wrong very fast, and he had to do something. “Do you realize what you’re doing?! You’ve got crazy bad rift creatures poisoning you and making do all this evil junk! You’ve got to stop! Trust me, universal conquest isn’t worth it.”

Alfor actually chuckled. “The creatures from the in between are mine to command. Nothing is controlling me except my own desires.”

Hira stepped to Alfor’s side. “My lord, my scouts have picked up images on a nearby asteroid—“

“No need Hira, I saw them coming since they ripped into our reality. I’ve already sent off for them to be dealt with.”

Lance and Pidge froze. They knew where their friends were. Even with Pidge’s cloak from the Malteans’ own technology.

Pidge mentally kicked herself. This Alfor was strong. He had powers like Lance, probably magnified if he could sense their friends despite her tinkering. Using the rift creatures like batteries, siphoning off quintessence from his evil Voltron. Pidge gulped, realizing she didn’t see anyone else in the room that might look like another paladin from the Maltean universe. She got the sinking feeling that she wouldn’t find one.

Alfor looked to the guards holding them. “Take the boy to the bridge. His power might be useful. Toss the girl over the side.”

They perked. Lance started thrashing as the Maltean guard restrained him, the other hauling Pidge over to the platform. Pidge tried to slow them as best she could by thrashing herself.

“Let her go! Don’t you do ANYTHING to her!”

His gut was met with a swift kick, Hira striking Lance with her foot. “Silence, whelp.”

Lance gasped, his mind a whirlwind of panic and pain. All of his thoughts hyper-focused on one thing: save Pidge.

 

\--

 

Hunk tossed another rock into the sky, watching it float up with the lack of gravity on the asteroid. He thanked Pidge mentally for their suit upgrades; the slight magnetism in their boots and in the paws of the Lions kept them gripped to any mineral surface if need be. He watched the rock float higher and higher, glad he wasn’t it.

He peered over to Keith, still standing in the same place. His eyes shifted to Shiro, typing away at his gauntlet computer.

“How much longer do you think they’re gonna be?”

Shiro looked up from his log, numbers and notes indicating what they’d seen and how long they’d been there. “I don’t know, but we should let them take their time. It’s a stealth mission, they won’t take risks.”

“Yeah, but who knows if they’ve run into trouble, or got caught, or—“

“Hunk.”

Hunk shut his mouth. Shiro shot him a silencing look. Hunk’s eyes drifted over to Keith, their leader gripping his arms like a vise. Yeah, maybe he shouldn’t mention the worst possible scenarios in front of the guy who was crushing on one of the ones inside the giant evil ship.

A roar shook them all. Keith whipped around to see Red rearing his head. The Lion rose into the air, then shot off like a bolt, heading straight for the Maltean ship.

Keith put one and one together, and his heart sank.

“They’re in trouble! We gotta go now!”

He started dashing for the Black Lion, but was cut off by lasers coming from the other end of the asteroid.

A battalion of sentries were shooting at the paladins. They marched quickly, firing furiously. The trio brought up their shields to defend against the shots.

Shiro looked to his teammates. “Get to your Lions! I can take care of these guys!”

They nodded, and Keith and Hunk scrambled to their respective partners. Shiro turned back to the sentries, who were marching closer and closer.

Shiro brought his left hand to the side, the glow from his thigh bringing out his bayard. It flashed, and the sonic drill materialized around Shiro’s arm. Activating it, it whined and spun, circling his arm. 

The sentries were only a few yards away. Shiro brought his arm up and thrust it into the ground. The drill dug into the rock, breaking apart the foundation. With just a click of his finger, a wave of sound erupted from the drill, amplifying the vibrations and sending shockwaves rushing forward. The sentries lost their footing, collapsing and stumbling into one another. 

Shiro took their clumsiness as his chance to skeedaddle. He dashed for Blue, pushing his legs until he was safely in her cockpit chair. He floored her thrusters, following after Hunk and Keith, both on the tail of the Red Lion.

 

\--

 

The Maltean guard holding Pidge struggled against the tiny paladin. Pidge was able to get one hand free and punch her captor square in the nose, making the guard gasp in pain. But he still dragged her along, albeit now trying to cover a bleeding nose. 

Lance had to stop this. He had to. He was not going to lose someone else on his watch. He concentrated, focusing all his thoughts on Pidge. He imagined, instead of the bubble he used on Keith, a tether, keeping Pidge tied to him.

Pidge jerked in the Maltean’s grasp. Her leg was pulling towards Lance’s direction. She smiled, beaming at her friend.

Alfor eyed Lance. “Impressive...but futile.”

Lance made the mistake of looking up at him. One glance, and Lance felt like a knife cut right through him. He felt his connection to Pidge snap, and she was flung out of the Maltean’s hand and over to the ledge, her body hanging half over it.

“Pidge!”

Pidge started to slip over the side. She scrambled trying to get back up, but the floor was slippery, and she was losing grip.

“Enough of this,” Hira sighed. She sauntered over to Pidge, looking down at the paladin with frost in her eyes. “Let’s see how you like it.”

Hira raised her foot slowly, angling it as if to kick Pidge in the face, and thus, over the side of the shaft. Pidge’s heart skipped.

“No!”

A tic of silence, then—

A blast came from the window of the engine room. Metal and debris cascaded down into the shaft. Dust blew in every direction, and also got sucked out into space. A roar echoed in the chamber. Red had come.

Hira looked at the Lion slack jawed. Pidge took her opportunity to use every ounce of strength to lift herself up, then come from underneath and uppercut Hira in the face. The Maltean grunted and spun, falling on the ground.

Red had the same idea, beginning to fire laser beams every which way, taking out wires and computers and anything else because he was MAD.

Lance had somersaults go off in his heart. Using the adrenaline, he summoned one more shock blast, jerking his head back and letting a burst of electricity pop. The sentry holding him fell.

Lance lunged for the edge of the platform. In his periphery, he caught Alfor, looking up at the Red Lion in awe.

“It can’t be…”

Lance didn’t know what that meant, and right now, didn’t care. He slid and grasped on to Pidge, then wheeled around, brandishing his shield and rifle, blasting away at the enemy. The Malteans returned fire best they could, a little shaken by the giant mechanical beast demolishing their ship.

Lance looked up at Red. “Come on!”

Red lowered to the platform, opening up his mouth. Lance half carried Pidge inside. Reaching the cockpit, Lance jumped to his seat while Pidge leaned on the back.

“Get us out of here!” She shouted.

Lance pulled up on the controls, and Red sparked to life, thrusters blaring and metal groaning. Red turned, leaving behind a gaping hole in the Maltean ship.

Hira was so close to going supernova.

“I want all hands on deck and everyone to battle positions. Mount a full assault on the enemy Lions immediately!”

She turned on her heel, her mind on getting to her cruiser, but a heavy hand gripped her shoulder, a little uncomfortably.

“Commander,” Alfor mused, “If you’re that determined, then you have my permission for a personal assault. Do as you see fit.”

Hira blanked, taking in the order. She internalized it, then smiled, a devilish grin growing on her lips. “Yes, my lord.”

She marched out of the hall, confidence clicking at her heels. Alfor watched her, a pitying glare at her back. Alfor turned to Renfrin. “Prepare our cannons and first squad of fighters. I will make quick work of these pests once Hira is finished.”

“Yes--em...my lord? Do you not expect her to succeed.”

Alfor marched across the platform, Renfrin at his back, and out of the engine room. “Hira has ambition, blinded by pride. These warriors are like looking in a mirror. I’ll let her have her fun, only to observe the reflection, and see how to counter.” He looked at Renfrin. “You may need to start looking for a replacement for a Commander.”

Renfrin nodded quickly as Alfor turned his head. Then, a slow smile crept on his lips.  _ Looks like the patient and observant ones win this round, Hira.  _

 

\--

 

Lance dodged Maltean pods and fighters, red lasers flying in all directions and making him loop and spiral to avoid them. He hugged the main ship’s hull, using his speed and maneuverability to keep away from the enemy. 

He felt a laser hit to Red’s rear, jerking the Lion. Pidge almost lost her balance. “Okay, that didn’t go as planned.”

“I honestly don’t think it ever was going to. But now we need to get you back to your Lion and regroup with the others.”

Another blast sent them careening into the side of the ship. Lance and Pidge gripped with all their strength, keeping their position. A pair of the Maltean dolphin-pods loomed over them, lasers powering up.

“Quiznak,” they said simultaneously. 

They braced for the impact, clutching their hands on their respective grips, but...nothing came.

Two blue beams shot at the pods, driving them away in retreat. 

“You guys need some help?”

“Hunk!”

Lance was never happier (no, he was ALWAYS happy) to hear Hunk’s sweet voice, the Yellow Lion demolishing a group of pods as it charged through enemy forces. Pidge saw the Blue Lion cascade among a band of fighters, sending out sonar rays to confused and hinder them. She turned, firing her freeze ray at them while they were stunned, and switched to the ion cannon to finish the job. 

Shiro turned towards the Red Lion. “You guys okay?”

“Yeah, we’re good,” Pidge answered, “but we have got some big news about what’s going on.”

“Well, let’s get you to the Green Lion first. We need everyone on hand to face these guys.”

More lasers blasted in their direction, as if to demonstrate.

“I got this,” Hunk affirmed. He charged Yellow, activating his tank armor. Hunk slammed through the pods in his way, taking out probably ten of them as he flew.

Speaking of everyone on hand. “Wait, where’s Keith?” Lance inquired, realizing he hadn’t seen their leader yet.

Shiro sighed. “He’s...doing his thing.”

Pidge and Lance each raised a brow, before a large explosion sounded behind them, making them flinch. Lance turned Red around to get a better view.

A purple streak of light sliced through the sky. In its wake, Maltean fighters popped and fumed out of existence. The Black Lion fired laser after laser, taking out small pods and making holes in the hull of the castle ship. Black’s jaw blade activated, and it ran the blade in a spiral around one of the engines. Blasts and fire spewed from the crevices. The Lion rammed into more enemy ships, fired ion cannons, aimed tail beams, and at one point even bit a fighter plane in half.

Lance and Pidge gulped.

Lance made sure his comm was working. “Keith! You doing good?”

Lance saw the Black Lion screech (again, if sound EXISTED in space, it would screech) to a halt, and turn to look at Red.

“Lance!” Utter exasperation and relief echoed in Lance’s ear, Keith’s voice slightly ragged. “Are you okay?! What happened? What went on in there? Red went ballistic.”

“Yeah, and looks like you did too,” Pidge remarked. She had an inkling that as soon as the Red Lion sensed Lance was in danger, a certain paladin had the same reaction, which meant decimating as many enemies in front of them until they found their precious cargo.

Keith gulped, a little redness blossoming on his face. Did he just get tunnel vision and blast hundreds of fighter jets. Yes. Did he practically forget about his team to opt for blowing up the Maltean ship? Yes. Was his mind only focused on Lance?

…

“I’m good,” Keith answered.

Lance quirked his brow. “Uhh, we’re okay. Just got a kick to the gut is all. But we’ve got bigger problems.”

Lance swerved Red to the back end of the Maltean ship. Keith guarded their back with Black, waiting for Lance to reach the Green Lion. Hunk and Shiro flew around the outside of the ship, picking off pods and turrets, pulling attention away from the other two.

“What do you mean?” Keith questioned, firing off two tail lasers at a pair of oncoming fighters.

Lance zoomed around the bottom engine of the ship. Green’s cloak was still active, but the constant onslaught of fire around her caused it to flicker, her form growing more visible as they approached.

“You’re not going to believe who their head honcho is—“

“Lance we don’t have time for suspense,” Pidge chided, turning to run out of the cockpit, headed for the exit. “It’s Alfor. Or at least this universe’s version of Alfor. He’s a giant evil quintessence user.”

“What?!” Hunk somersaulted behind a trio of pods, blasting them with his ion ray. “Like, I guess that kinda makes sense, but are you serious?!”

“Dead.” Pidge answered. She stood looking out of Red’s belly exit bay. The Green Lion was directly below her. She jumped, activating her jetpack and bolted for her Lion. Lights and lasers flashed all around her, but she kept her vision on Green alone. Lance stayed above her, firing at anyone who dared to attack. Pidge slammed into Green, feeling the sigh of relief come from the Lion, happy her paladin had come back. Green opened her top, letting Pidge in. Once her hatch was safely closed, Lance rose, spiraling above to join the fray.

Pidge ran to her cockpit, leaping into her seat and getting all of her ignition procedures started.

“That’s not the worst of it,” she continued, “it’s not just comets powering their ship. It’s a  _ Voltron _ . They have a Voltron that’s been giving them the ability to jump in between realities just like we have!”

She clutched her thrusters and gunned them, Green coming to life and blasting off. Pidge U-turned and activated Green’s plant cannon. She fired three shots at three different pods. A second later, wooded roots burst from each, wrapping around and crushing them. Pidge smirked, then swerved around to join her teammates in the fight.

Shiro shot Blue through a barrage of lasers, firing off her freeze ray. “So they cut open a hole in space time, like we did…”

“No way! They’ve been using those rift creatures to help power it up!” Lance didn’t exactly understand where the defiance came from, but in the back of his mind, he knew the Malteans were abusing the power of the entities, warping their version of Voltron into that grotesque machine. “They don’t care about what they do to reality. They just open it up and don’t worry about putting it back together the right way, making space all warped. All they want to do is collect comets and take over the world without any regar—RRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!”

A piercing headache shot through Lance’s mind. He jerked to a halt, or, did Red stop on his own?

“Lance? Lance what’s wrong?” Keith called out.

Lance gripped his controls hard. His head felt like it was splitting open between his eyes. The only thing in his brain was pain. Blinding pain. But the blindness flashed into different images. A green hill flowing with magenta flowers. Thousands of ships in space retreating from a blast. A table with a party of people laughing around dinner. A lab of screens and tubes glowing an ominous crimson.

Lance saw them all flare in his mind. With each image, he felt himself get pulled away into them, like he was becoming one with the scene.

“Lance!”

Lance blinked hard. The pain receded slightly, but still throbbed at his temple. He twisted Red, looking to the Black Lion.

“What’s wrong? Nothing hit you. Are you okay?”

Keith spoke with such authority and care, making Lance twist with a little embarrassment. He coughed, but that sent aftershocks of pain in his head.

“I’m...I’m good...Just a little shaken up from that Evil Voltron’s quintessence, I think. Doesn’t really agree with my stomach. Now I know how Hunk feels. (“Hey”!)

Shiro barrel rolled over a trio of fighters. He rose above them, then spiraled down, circling them with his laser. The fighters exploded, debris flying off in the distance.

“Picking off jets isn’t going to do anything. We need a strategy to take down the main ship.”

“Where the Red Lion charged in, that's their engine room,” Pidge supplied, offering the intel. “It’s where their power flows from their No-tron to the rest of the ship. If we take that thing down, I think we can stop the ship from working.”

“Oh come on Pidge,” Hunk griped, “you had ‘Eviltron’ right there waiting for you.”

“Focus everyone!” Keith eyed a few engines over. He caught sight of the gaping hole in the hull of the Maltean ship. A red glow emanated from the gape.

“Alright. We’ll take out their power, then stop these guys once and for all. But we’ll be better off as one unit.” Keith gripped his controls, punching them up. “FORM VOLTRON!”

The paladins flew in formation, gathering together for the transformation. Lance felt Red move. But...something felt...slower. Red’s reaction time seemed off. And faint. Lance felt the headache throb, and an eerie aura come over him.

 

\--

 

Alfor stood over the observation deck of the bridge. The battle before him was a massacre. Pods and fighters tried to regain order. But they were useless. Useless against what was forming in front of him.

Five robotic Lions shifted and clicked together, reforming into a massive robotic warrior. Alfor sneered, old memories surfacing after years of driving them into the earth. What was  more, the beast that crashed into the engine bay, HIS beast, was in the hands of an incompetent child. Not even Altean.

Renfrin stepped next to his master, a bit of a nervous shake to his voice. “Your orders, sir?”

Alfor remained quiet, watching the transformation. He hadn’t seen the robot actually transform in some time. He forgot how long it took.

“Did Hira take to her fighter?”

“Yes, Lord.”

“Good. She will have her fun soon enough.” Alfor breathed, then raised his hand. Energy flowed to his palm, a blue glow quickly shifting a dark burgundy, like the power was tainted.

Renfrin gulped. “M—my Lord?”

“That whelp intrigued me. He is not of Altean blood, but has abilities only those who are worthy of Oriande may possess. That...and he pilots the Red Lion. Perhaps there is something I can do to quell them.”

Alfor flexed his hand. Lights flashed around the bridge. Lamps with rift creatures on the walls vibrated, almost like they were pleased. Alfor concentrated, focusing his thoughts on the Goliath from the other universe. He pinpointed its right hand.

 

\--

 

“Form sword!” Keith shouted. He jammed his bayard in the switch. Energy shot through Voltron, and he smacked the hands together, the sword materializing in his right grip. Voltron slashed a couple of practice swings, before charging into a group of enemy pods, taking them out with one swing. Little explosions popped up behind them. 

Voltron rose, leveling itself with the Maltean ship. Pidge entered some digits, zooming onto the hole leaking debris from the hull. 

“I’ve got the point locked on. If we cut off the giant tubes in there connecting Eviltron to the ship, they’re in the dark.”

“Okay, then let’s get this done quick!” Keith punched his controls. They zoomed towards the hole, dodging lasers and slicing fighter planes.

Keith slashed at a jet. Before the sword passed through, Voltron’s right arm jerked, hitching the bot and missing the jet entirely. Keith rounded back to avoid a barrage of lasers.

“ _ Rrgh _ , Lance what happened?”

Lance gritted his teeth. The headache pounded behind his eyes. More flashes of scenes passed in front of him that he didn’t recognize. A room with a crib. The bridge of a ship overlooking a massive explosion. What felt worse: Red was bugging out on him. It felt like his Lion was acting up, torn between him and something else.

“I...I don’t know. I’m seeing weird images and feel like I’m blacking out.”

“What—“

A blast of a laser brought their attention to the front, dodging to clear the way from it.

A fighter plane, larger than the rest, blocked them from the rest of the Maltean ship. Keith was reminded of a falcon; a middle streamlined cockpit, enclosed by two thin and bladed wings. A pair of small engine thrusters burst behind it as it darted around Voltron, gunfire blaring all around the giant robot. The plane skirted back around, coming between Voltron and the Maltean ship, almost daring the paladins to make a move. 

“ _ Oh—kay _ ,” Hunk groaned, “that one means some business.”

 

\--

 

Hira smiled, eyeing her prey with delight. She may have taken her jet out for a flight every now and again, but she hadn’t been in the cockpit during a fight in a long time. Not having to worry about troops or battle formations was so freeing. She could attack all she wanted. She could toy with them all she wanted. 

She could crush them however she wanted.

“Your end starts here, and finishes with me.” She bared her teeth, savoring the idea of bringing this other worldly abomination to its demise.

 

\--

 

More pods and small fighters exited from the main ship, coming to the aid of the falcon fighter. Keith’s eyes darted around, looking for some kind of opening to the hole in the hull. No such luck. 

“Loop around! We’ll draw them away and try for a different angle. Hunk, ready your shoulder cannon!”

Hunk mashed his bayard in the ignition while Voltron twisted and somersaulted. The cannon sprang to life on the robot’s shoulder. Targeting the enemies, Hunk fired, laser lights dancing and snaking through space until they hit their marks. Hundreds of explosions hit, lighting up and washing everything in orange and red. 

The falcon fighter zoomed by, streaking so close that it nicked Voltron’s shoulder, jerking everyone inside. Keith gained his composure before it had a chance to do it again.

“Laser cannon, now!”

Voltron’s right arm raised, aiming at the fighter. The ion ray powered up—

The right arm stiffened. It twitched and the power died in the cannon. Then, all of a sudden, it went limp. 

“Lance! What’s going on?!” Keith shouted.

“Keith!” Shiro shouted in return, “watch out!”

Keith looked up to see the fighter charging directly at them, guns blazing with lasers flying.

“Pidge!”

The wings on Voltron’s back detached, changing into their shield. The blasts were blocked, but pushed them back. The fighter pulled up, flying high above them. It spun, then stopped and paused, turning downward. It was taunting them.

Keith’s mind was torn two ways. 

“Lance?! Lance talk to me what’s going on?”

…

“Lance? Lance can you hear me? Respond.”

...nothing.

“Lance!” The growing unease in Keith’s voice unsettled all the paladins. The worry inside the giant warrior was slowly growing.

“Lance, buddy? Come on man, what’s wrong?”

“Lance are you okay? Lance!”

“Lance talk to us! Can you hear us?”

“Lance!”

…

…

Lance could hear them. A little. But they were like a whisper in front of a siren. His head threatened to explode. He felt white hot coals behind his eyes. Colors flashed in front of him. Sweat trickled at his back. He tried to reach out to Red for some stability, comfort even. But the Lion felt just as confused. Like…like it was trying to put its finger on a memory. Like it knew exactly what was going on, but couldn’t place it exactly.

Lance wished he could squeeze whatever this pain was out of his eyelids. But his thoughts weren’t his own. The scenes changed rapidly in his mind. A bedside with someone laying still. A void of white and swirling darkness. Soft and young laughter. Blossoming rage and betrayal. Lance was stuck between his own feelings and whatever else was going on in his mind.

He tried to reach back to the present. He needed to help his friends. He wanted to answer them. But the building pain kept dragging him away.

 

Then.

 

He was.

 

He was pulled away from it all.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, did your theories add up?  
> We've now met the big bad, so what will out heroes do?! We're getting down to business on season 9, so stay tuned for more adventure!
> 
> I'm hoelko on tumblr and twitter, and hoelko_doods on instagram for posters and clips of the episodes!


	10. Madness of a King

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance does the Time Warp. Red pops, locks, and drops it. Green dabs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I literally have no idea why i have that as a summary.  
> Any burning questions? This ep might answer them. Onward with the tale!

He stood in a large field. Green grass blew with the wind. A blue sky shone overhead, the sun warm and calming on his skin. The valley rolled into the violet mountains in the distance. Painting the way, bright magenta flowers peppered the hills, swaying in the breeze.

Juniberries.

He looked down, and gasped. He could see his hand, but it was translucent. He looked through it to the ground. Like a ghost.

He brought his eyes up. Someone was sitting before him. A man, his back to him. He wore a blue vest over a periwinkle shirt. His white hair was pulled back into a small bun. In his hand, he twirled a single juniberry in his grasp. 

Lance had an overwhelming feeling of peace. Nothing felt calmer than this moment, out in the field of juniberries. He felt at home. He felt like his life was at the happiest of could be.

Then the scene tinged with red.

Swirls of crimson marred the sky as it grew darker. The flowers wilted and died. The mountains cracked and fell. The earth shook. But the man sitting still sat, unphased by it all. Lance reached out, trying to warn him everything was crashing down, and that he should run and get away, but his voice didn’t work. The dark red smog wrapped around the man, making him disappear. The same smoke blurred Lance’s vision, until all was dark.

 

\--

 

He blinked.

Lance stood in a grand dining hall. A glass ceiling let in the evening light about fifty feet above him. At the end of a large banquet table, he could hear laughter and voices talking to one another. A small group of people sat eating and enjoying each other’s company. One person in green robes rose, holding up a glass for a toast. 

“To us!” she cheered. 

In that instant the sky grew dark. Light flashed above outside the window. A loud crash rocked the dining hall.

Lance was whisked away again, blinking to find himself at the edge of a large quarry. A giant boulder, a meteorite, was dug into the ground. A dark blue, it glowed with streaks of aqua and cerulean. 

_ The reality comet _ , Lance thought. 

He looked behind him, and almost fell over.

It was the original Voltron team. Blaytz, brandishing twin scimitars in his grasp , Gyrgan, standing tall and ready to protect, Trigel, an inquisitive look on her face. And—

Lance’s breath hitched. He had never been used to seeing him before, and even after years of knowing he was gone, it still shook him to the bone.

_ Zarkon. _

Although, it was the nicer looking, haven’t-gone-crazy-with-evil Zarkon. This Zarkon looked concerned, eyeing the comet with caution. 

Lance’s gaze drifted down to the final figure.

Adorned in white and gold armor, a shining red jewel in his breastplate, was King Alfor. He looked similar to how Lance remembered him as the Castle of Lion’s AI, albeit MUCH younger and striking. While the others each had an air of hesitancy while looking at the comet, Alfor’s face looked…curious. The weird thing was how curious Lance felt. Like, Lance REALLY wanted to scale down the quarry to go look at the giant rock, but knew his friends would take the safer route and call for backup.

_ Wait, no. _

Alfor’s friends. Not Lance’s. 

Before Lance could sort out his thoughts, he felt himself being thrust again into another scene. 

He was standing in a lab. A large circular shaft stood erect in the middle of the room, golden light shining through. Computers blinked with readouts and numbers. The morning light danced in the windows, illuminating the workers inside. 

Lance looked at one of the computers. Hunched over were two people. One he could see was Alfor, the other was smaller, petite, with hair pulled back into a bun.

Lance heard a voice boom behind him. “How goes the experiments on the comet and the rift, old friend?”

Lance nearly had a heart attack and yiped, Zarkon phasing straight through him, walking over to Alfor. The silver haired man turned, beaming.

“Marvelously! The reserves of quintessence in the comet alone have been nothing short of limitless. I have to say, it’s been entertaining to tinker with. And the rift itself is an infinite pool of energy. We could power entire star systems if we could harness it.”

Zarkon smiled, but Lance could see some...uneasiness...to the look. Zarkon’s attention shifted. “And how are you faring, my dear?”

The other person turned. A woman with lavender hair, a coppery complexion, and two red Altean freckles dotting her cheeks. Gold eyes smiled with glee. “Fine. Alfor’s been leading the charge on most of the experiments. I’ve been practically demoted to data keeping.”

Alfor gaped dramatically. “Honerva! My star alchemist and best scientist. How could you think I would put you in such a position?!”

Honerva (Lance STILL felt a shiver down his spine thinking of her) gave a raised brow to Alfor. “We all know you’re as happy as the juniberries in bloom with these discoveries, your majesty. I don’t think even the strongest Galra fleet could stop you from finding out more.”

Zarkon deadpanned and blushed, embarrassed by the call out. “I would hope my forces are at least  _ that _ strong.”

“Between Alfor and the prospect of discovering alternate universes? Hardly.”

At that, Alfor brightened. “Yes but seriously, could you imagine?! Other universes, just like our own, with only the slightest changes, or completely separate paths of existence! And we have the avenue of knowledge right at our fingertips!”

Zarkon chuckled. “I know old friend, very exciting. I'm just wondering how much longer you’ll be joining us on Daibazaal for this experiment. I know Melenor must be getting close.”

Alfor pouted. Lance thought he almost looked disappointed. “She’s coming along. Some time still left. I was planning on running a few more tests...for about...another few quintants?”

Zarkon placed his hand on Alfor’s shoulder. His smile was full of pride, but his eyes held concern. “I know this is a big venture for you my friend. But please. I implore you to relax. Go home and get some rest. Your work will be here when you return.”

Alfor squinted, then shifted his head to look past Zarkon and over to Honerva. “You won’t find anything fantastical while I’m gone,” he raised a brow, “will you?”

Honerva giggled, cupping her mouth. “We have a divot leading into a rift between realities. What more could I find without you?”

Alfor seemed to relax with that, sighing. He looked back up at Zarkon. “Just don’t let this one take up too much of your time, my friend. I still appreciate having my top scientist around when I need her. Not partaking in candlelit dinners night after night, eh?”

Zarkon blushed again, his purple skin turning magenta. Honerva laughed as Alfor puffed his chest.

Lance felt proud. Proud of his accomplishments. Proud of making his—Alfor’s— friend shy from his feelings.

Lance shook his head. He was feeling what this Alfor was feeling. He was going through his memories. He was seeing how it played out. 

_ But why? _

A piercing shard of pain struck Lance’s temple. He gripped his head, staggering to stay upright. Noises filled his ears, deafening him. Lance couldn’t take it much longer. The pain and volume grew and grew. Lance was sure his brain was going to explode any second. 

One sound started to get clearer, unmuffling from the rest of the clamor. Lance tried his best to focus on it, the attempt making the pain recede slightly.

_ “——anc——Lan——ance——“ _

_ “Lance!” _

Lance focused on the voice, saying, shouting his name. Lance pulled. He pulled at something, he just wasn’t sure how or what. But he pulled himself out of the pain, and yanked free from the closing darkness.

 

\--

 

“Lance!”

Lance gasped, blinking out the darkness from his eyes. He was sitting down. He was gripping something tight. His controls. He was breathing hard. Sweating. He was in the Red Lion’s cockpit. He tried reaching out to Red for some stability...and was met with confusion. Something was making Red go silent.

“Lance!”

Lance jolted, his speakers blaring. His chest made a little leap hearing a familiar voice. Keith. He registered Keith shouting at him, concern and worry drowning his voice. Lance shook his head, the ache receding slightly.

“I’m...I’m okay. I think.”

“Buddy, we’ve been calling you for the past five minutes. What happened?” Hunk sounded just as concerned, but not nearly as desperate.

Lance looked out his window and gasped, shifting his controls quickly. Outside, Maltean fighters and pods dashed and buzzed all around the base ship. Lasers whizzed past them like a blizzard. And that one falcon-like fighter careened around Voltron, taking shots then zooming high above to divebomb them.

Lance gunned his controls, bringing up the right arm to help block a blow of lasers with Pidge. Voltron was pushed back, getting further from the base ship.

Shiro grunted, pushing their thrusters to keep their distance. “Lance you blacked out on us. The Red Lion’s been limp and we’ve had to fend off these attacks.”

“Sorry. I think...I think I just saw some of evil Alfor’s memories.”

“What?!”

Four shouts rang in Lance’s ears. Another barrage of lasers began to strike them. Pidge summoned the shield to block. “What the heck does  _ that _ mean?!”

“I don’t know! I just saw what I saw. Alfor was with the original paladins and they found the Voltron comet just like in our universe.”

Keith grunted, flipping power to go to the back boosters. “So you’re saying that their version of history is like ours? Then why did Alfor go evil?”

“Again, didn’t exactly get that far with the memories. Also fighting off the major headache that comes with—WAAAHH!”

A speeding ship bolted by them. The falcon ship danced and dashed through space. It flew around turrets and engines of the base ship, disappearing from Voltron’s line of sight, only to get the jump on them with a quick round of shots before hiding again. 

Pidge shook in her seat, grunting after feeling the bump of another attack. “I’ll give you three guesses who’s in that one. And she’s out for blood.”

Shiro nodded, remembering the sting of disrespect and malice in his ears. “If we keep getting pushed back they’ll pick us off. We need to get back closer to the ship.”

Keith steeled. “Get our thrusters moving, Legs. Pidge, I want a shield up to maul through the smaller pods. Lance, I want our sword out and swinging.”

Each paladin complied, activating their controls. The legs blared to life, firing off and flashing with power. The hands mashed together, the sword elongating. The shield formed on the left arm, clacking together. 

Keith gunned his controls and Voltron surged forward, shield first. Pods bounced off it as they dashed back to the Maltean ship. More lasers whipped by, but Voltron spun to block them, continuing forward. A larger fighter blocked the path. Voltron brought the sword down, slashing it in two. Voltron turned, marking its target. The gaping hole in the side of the ship leaked more debris, and the faint red lights of the engine room blinked in and out. 

“Alright guys, let’s move while we have an opening,” Keith shouted. Voltron lunged, heading for the hole.

Lance kept his focus on the hole. While he still got the heebie-jeebies from the Eviltron, the sooner they could destroy it, the sooner they could stop the Malteans and go home. Lance prepped his controls, readying the right arm for an epic sword swipe to open up the hole even more. They were only a few more tics away from the entrance—

Lance cried out. His head felt like a pickaxe just pounded on his temple. His hands went straight to his helmet, pressing it hard against his head to stop the pain. His body felt foreign. He felt like he wasn’t welcomed inside Red. Everything seemed to send waves to his body like they were trying to eject him out.

Voltron’s right arm went limp, the sword fizzling out in a shimmer of light. Voltron jerked to a halt. 

“Lance?! Lance what’s wrong?!”

Lance wanted nothing more than to answer Keith. To keep listening and hearing him. But his vision was starting to go dark. Sounds became muffled and indecipherable. Lance tried to call Red again, begging for help to keep him grounded. Red fell silent, but Lance could catch the thought of opposition; Red was fighting something.

Keith was losing his cool. “Lance! Respond! We’re almost there!”

“Incoming!” Hunk caterwauled. 

Keith looked up. The falcon-ship shot directly for them, firing off lasers. Pidge brought up the shield to block, but the fighter pulled up at the last second and out of sight. Voltron dropped the shield and looked around for its target, but felt shots to its back, more pods coming in to halt the mech’s progress. 

Shiro and Hunk shifted the thrusters back, getting Voltron out of the line of fire. Pidge looked over at the right arm, dangling. “Lance is out of commission!”

“Lance!” Keith’s apprehension mixed with his disgruntlement from the battle, but his mind was split. “Lance what is it?! Can you speak? Answer me!”

_ Quiznak _ , Lance wanted to. But something in his head was also pulling him back into the dark. Then, the world around him collapsed.

 

\--

 

He was back in the lab. 

Monitors displayed spiking levels of energy. Symbols and notes panned across screens. Piles of paper (Lance didn’t think Alteans USED paper) covered most of the desk space in the main console. 

Lance heard footsteps behind him. Zarkon entered through the door, marching towards the other side of the room. Lance followed his path, seeing someone huddled over a computer and a stack of paper and books. Alfor was scribbling something down, muttering excitedly to himself. 

Zarkon coughed. “My friend, I’m having the cooks prepare a meal for us in the dining hall. Perhaps you might like to join us?”

Alfor didn’t look up. “Oh, I’m fine. You can have someone send it up. You’d probably prefer to enjoy your meal alone with your doting queen now, wouldn’t you?”

Zarkon shifted uncomfortably. Lance felt like he was in another universe (...even in Lance’s mind he realized how stupid that sounded...he WAS in another universe), the image of a concerned, caring Zarkon steadily becoming the most bizarre thing he’d ever seen. He found himself almost sympathizing with the emperor.

“Alfor...I actually invited Melenor to join us.”

Alfor whipped his head around. For a fraction of a second, Lance thought he looked a little crazed. But then it faded into a bit of a pout. “You didn’t need to do that.”

“No, but I wanted to. I extended the invitation to the queen so we might finally meet your new princess. You’ve mentioned her on the offhand, so why not welcome her to Daibazaal?”

Alfor weighed in his feet. Lance could feel his uneasiness. The sense that Zarkon was making things awkward by bringing his—ALFOR’S…wife (this weird memory sync was not fun for Lance in the least bit). Alfor sighed. “I promise you my friend, I’m actually about to finish one of my experiments. I’ll be out of your scales by the next quintant...two at most.”

“About that…I fully support your endeavors my friend. Honerva has told me the amazing discoveries about quintessence you’ve both found. But...that open rift you collect your data from...I fear that leaving it open may cause more harm than good.”

Alfor blanked, then bellowed out a good laugh, clutching his stomach. “Zar—Zarkon! Why—why would you think that we don’t have that under control?! I assure you that rift is fully protected. You have nothing to worry about!”

Zarkon looked like he didn’t buy it. “That rift has emptied more and more seeping quintessence onto Daibazaal the longer it stays open. Who knows what could happen to my citizens if it keeps—“

“Zarkon. My friend. The quintessence coming out of the rift is nothing but positive, pure energy. Your people are absolutely safe. And if you really don’t think so, I am even working on a project that will put your mind at even more ease.”

Zarkon raised a brow. “...Your... _ tinkering _ ?”

Alfor nodded. “I think I’m reaching a breakthrough with that transreality comet. And the results are going to be quite the sight.”

Zarkon placed a hand on his hip. “If you’d ever show anyone, that is.”

“All in due time my friend.” Alfor turned back to his station, jotting down more notes. Zarkon coughed again. Lance could feel a twinge of guilt that visibly made Alfor shudder.

“Dinner, Alfor? I’d be honored if you’d introduce me to the heir of the Altean throne. Honerva even picked out a sweet gift for her. I don’t even think you told me what you have called her.”

Alfor sighed, leaning up from his notes. Lance felt the disappointment weigh on his own mind, Alfor trying to muster a jovial attitude to take to the dining hall. “...Allura. As her face draws in all who look, and how she sparkles like the cosmos.”

Zarkon smiled. Leading his hand, he gestured Alfor to follow him out of the lab. 

Alfor followed. Lance saw a smile on the King’s face, but his insides twisted. Distinct emotions of regret and nerves bounced in his brain. Lance gathered that Alfor was upset he was cut off on his research. Part of it was guilt, knowing he WAS keeping away from Altea and his, Alfor’s, newborn. But, there was still so much to be done. So much to be discovered. Didn’t Zarkon understand that they were on the precipice of something that was hundreds of decaphoebs beyond their understanding?

The two monarchs exited the lab. Lance stood in place. Not because he was in shock, but because he could not metaphysically move his feet to follow them. Not a second after the door shut, Lance’s head ripped apart, white filling his eyes. He felt like he was falling backwards. Then everything went pitch black.

 

\--

 

Flashes sparked in front of his eyes. Lance got glimpses of explosions. Bright lights streaked his vision. He saw what looked like the rift crack open further. He heard screams. He saw dust and dirt fly around. A large black  _ thing _ erupted from the rift. It thrashed and attacked the soldiers on the ground defending the land best they could. Another pulse to his brain brought Lance back to the dark.

 

\--

 

He was standing in an elevator. He looked around to see the original paladins discussing something. Lance caught on to Alfor mentioning his “tinkering” again. The lights from the elevator shaft strobed inside the compartment. Until the light stopped.

 

\--

 

He stood below them. Alfor showed his friends his ultimate project. Five giant Lions, built using the ore from the transreality comet. Lance recalled this part of history; it must have been a point where their universes were in sync. Each Lion chose a paladin, creating a connection with one another that couldn’t be broken. A blast from outside jostled the five (plus Lance), and they dashed to a Lion. Lance, however, felt his head contract, spiraling him into a swirl of colors.

 

\--

 

He was floating. 

Below him stretched a battle of five Lions versus the giant dark quintessence creature. The Black Lion tumbled and careened around its enemy. The Yellow and Green Lions tried to distract it, spinning around firing lasers, while the Red and Blue Lions tried to tackle it, only to miss as the creature writhed and slithered out of their path.

With no opening, the Lions retreated into the sky together, Lance figured to come up with a plan. But, they didn’t stop. They kept climbing higher into the sky, each Lion glowing in a light of the rainbow. Until, they came together as one.

Lance watched the giant mech crash back down to the ground and rise. The original paladins has formed Voltron for the first time.

Lance caught flashes of the fight. Voltron fired beams at the creature. The creature struck back, band-like arms wrapping around it. Voltron activated its sword and slashed at the monster. The creature dodged and struck again. Voltron rose into the sky and came crashing down on the beast. A shockwave of light and wind enveloped the land. Dust flew. Then it settled.

Lance saw Voltron emerge from the smoke, rising triumphantly. 

The last thing Lance caught cross his mind, was the irresistible thought of going into the rift, and even collecting one of those rift creatures for...an experiment.

 

\--

 

Lance felt like he was speeding through a tunnel. Images of the Lions and Voltron fighting spiraled around him. He caught glimpses of the paladins at fancy galas and ceremonies...save for Alfor. His heart hiccupped when he saw what looked like a young Allura, peering around the corner of a door, looking upon her father with longing, Alfor busy with his nose in a screen of data. 

The tunnel ripped at Lance’s mind, until he was thrust back into the lab on Daibazaal. The room looked darker, lights blinking erratically. Papers littered the floor. The windows shone with the setting sun, but were clouded with dust. The creepiest thing about the room was a tube in the center. Inside, a smaller rift creature swam around in it, periodically spazzing out by flexing its...Lance wasn’t sure what appendages those little devils had, since they looked like a combination of smoke and slime. 

Lance turned. Zarkon was standing over Alfor, the latter gripping his hair and looking down at his computer. Lance didn’t even need to walk over; the force of the memory dragged him to listen.

“—need your rest. Some relaxation. Surely your tests can wait after you’ve had a fill of nunvil.”

“Zarkon, we are on the edge of interdimensional travel here. I can’t stop the possibility of making contact with another reality.”

Zarkon sighed. Lance felt like Zarkon must have done that a lot with Alfor. “My friend. We should be worrying about our OWN universe. Voltron has been spreading peace and stability throughout the cosmos. Most crime and war lords have been brought in to custody, and we’ve helped countless planets avoid tragedy from natural disasters. Why not focus your energy on how to help them?”

Alfor chuckled a humorless laugh. “That’s what you’re for, Zarkon. You’re the adamant leader and proponent for peace. I’m the scientist creating the future for that peace to thrive.”

“But you’ve become obsessed! Tell me, when was the last time you oversaw the construction of the engine updates on your own castle? Or the last time you went juniberry picking with your daughter?”

Alfor turned. Lance saw his eyes looked...paler. Colder. More icy than crystal. They looked like the eyes of a maniac.

Alfor breathed in and out. “I suppose it’s...been some time…”

“Yes, and in that time, what have you ACTUALLY accomplished? Aside from maybe a few quintessence spikes, that is.”

Alfor gripped his desk, taken aback. “An insurmountable amount! I mean, look here!” He gestured towards the rift creature, walking over to it with Zarkon in tow. Lance didn’t want to, but the memory brought him along for the ride.

“This creature from the rift, like the one we fought, puts out an infinite energy, much like quintessence.”

Zarkon eyed the creature with disgust. “And your point?”

“Its energy counteracts that of quintessence. It’s like a pure, negative energy. While quintessence has a gain that is exponential, this creature’s output is randomly spiking. It can take in minimal amounts of energy and send out ten times the amount.”

Zarkon crossed his arms. “You know I’m still uncomfortable with this. That beast almost destroyed part of my planet, and you had the gall to probe into that rift to dig another one out.”

Alfor waved his arms, trying to calm his friend. Lance got the distinct feeling from Alfor that Zarkon was just paranoid. Just another naive Galran (Lance shivered, the thought of the stereotype VERY awkward in his mind). “I assure you, the particle barrier around the rift will keep out any more. But you realize that means there’s sentient life on the other side of that rift?! Who knows what it could connect?”

Zarkon sighed again (yup, he’s been sighing at Alfor for a while), clearly not on the same page with his friend. Lance could feel a mild tension between the two. From his perspective, Zarkon just wanted Alfor to take a break and be his friend, while Alfor was so sure he was on the verge of some big discovery. Lance had an idea of what that discovery could be, and wished he could call out and tell Alfor he was not going to like it.

Alfor smiled at Zarkon. Lance had the overwhelming feeling that Alfor DID care, he just had a different way of showing it. “I promise you, Zarkon, all that I’m doing WILL help our people. We could gain more knowledge about our own universe and the ones beyond. I just ask that you trust me.”

Zarkon pursed his lips, then breathed out, looking up innocently. “I do, my good friend. I know this is important to you. Just...try to take some time for yourself. For your family.”

“Of course.”

Zarkon turned. “I must be going. We had another report today of a few more citizens with high fevers and muscle weakness. The doctors are still trying to figure out the disease.”

Alfor nodded. “Yes, That is troubling. I’ve asked Melenor to keep to your castle when she comes to visit with Allura.”

“No one is stopping you from taking time to go HOME, Alfor,” Zarkon chuckled. “You could actually be the King of Altea ON Altea if you so chose.”

Alfor rolled his eyes. Lance felt the same playful annoyance nag at the back of his mind. “Melenor loves to visit. Plus, I promised Allura she would get to ask Honerva about the ‘little surprise’ she has.”

Zarkon blushed at that, quickly turning to face the door. Alfor bellowed out a laugh. “Don’t be so shy my good man! It’s news to celebrate! We’ll both have heirs to our kingdoms that will do us proud.”

“Yes, we will. Strong futures for strong empires.” Zarkon turned back to his friend. “Just be sure to nurture that future.”

Alfor waved his hand. “Whatever you say, old friend.”

Lance stood looking at the two. They were friends, certainly, with years of battle and triumph between them. Aside from an obsessed and nerdy Alfor, Lance could see this as an alternate take of what his universe could have been. The Galra and Alteans on friendly terms. No war breaking out. It was too good to be true.

And it was, as the splitting headache shot through Lance’s mind again. He felt like his eyes were peeling, lifting a veil that covered the scene. Blasts rang in his ears. Muffled voices cleared as he focused. He reached out to one, a gruff and nervous voice that was ragged after screaming. Lance gripped the voice with his mind, and pulled himself into the light.

 

\--

 

“Keep on them! Scatter their numbers!”

“Hunk give them a swift kick!”

“I would if they’d just stay still!”

“Watch the right side! We’re still limp!”

Lance blinked out the dark in his eyes, looking out Red’s cockpit window and back to the battle. Lasers sped by every which-way. Explosions of destroyed pods lit up the space around them. That stinking falcon ship swerved around its own forces, distracting Voltron and turning it around and away from the main base ship. 

Lance gripped his controls, regaining his bearings. “S...sorry guys. Back again.”

“Lance! Oh buddy are you okay?” Hunk’s distress flipped from the terror of the battle to the concern for his friend like a light switch.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Just saw more history from this universe. Alfor making their Voltron. They fought a rift creature. Alfor studied one of them. He was, well, I guess IS obsessed.”

“Kinda figured that,” Pidge grunted. “You see why he went crazy?”

“That, I did not. It’s not like a home movie where I can fast-forward. I’m kinda stuck on what my mind decides to show me.”

“Well tell your mind to keep it together for a little while, ‘cause we’ve got problems.” Keith pulled back on his controls hard. Voltron pulled a one-eighty spin to blast the pods at their back. They flew around the left side of the ship, trying to avoid a new onslaught of fighter pods tailing them. And of course, the pest of the falcon-fighter still buzzed around them, getting in shots and then flying away just as fast.

Hunk and Shiro punched their thrusters, getting some distance between Voltron and the pods. Keith had them turn quick to face their enemy.

“Hunk! Shoulder cannon!”

Hunk didn’t even bother with an affirmative, punching his bayard in the ignition. Lights flashed in his cockpit. On the outside, the giant cannon materialized on Voltron’s shoulder. Taking four tics to lock on to their targets, Hunk punched his controls, activating the cannon. Hundreds of streamer-like beams wove and wiggled through space. Each one followed an invisible path, connecting with a pod and putting on a spectacle of a fireworks show. The cannon took out a large portion of the pods chasing them, putting some distance between Voltron and the Maltean reinforcements. 

Lance huffed out a disgruntled sigh. “Sorry guys. I don’t know what’s going on. Wouldn’t it be easier to fight if we disbanded?”

“And leave you floating through space defenseless if you go into another flashback? You’re safer going limp on Voltron where we can protect you. Just stay focused.” ...Keith was quite stern with his answer. Lance sifted through the gruffness of the response to find the genuine concern in it, but he couldn’t sift long as more pods approached.

Keith gritted. “Alright, while we have you still Lance, let’s do some damage. Form sword!”

Keith punched his bayard in the ignition. Violet lights filled his cockpit. 

…

But no sword formed.

Keith flicked the bayard in its slot. He swore the sword just worked a few minutes ago. Now it was silent.

“Lance, what’s going on with Red? Why isn’t the sword forming?”

“I don’t know?! Gimme a tic!” Lance pressed buttons, flipped switches, and rocked his gears every way he could, but Red didn’t shoot out a giant sword. With him in the cockpit, it was Lance’s job to connect Keith’s bayard to activate the sword, almost like Lance giving permission for his Lion to be used. But Red was silent, not giving any indication of allowing the sword to form. 

“Red, come on! We’re kind of in a fight here!”

Lance tried reaching out to his Lion, pleading with the Red to work with him. Lance could only catch glimpses of feelings, one of which was opposition, another the distinct feeling of being pulled away.

Something was messing with his Lion.

“Guys, I think something is messing with my Lion.”

“What do you mean?” The encroaching anxiety Shiro felt in his stomach was reflected in his voice.

“It’s like he’s shutting me out. He’s all quiet, plus it feels like he’s trying to get away from me. I can’t tell if he’s scared or mad but it’s—RRAAAAAAAAARRRGGG!”

“Lance!” His teammates shouted in unison. Lance’s head throbbed in pain. He felt like he was going back into another memory. But...he felt something…. _ someone _ , else, in his mind as well. The someone was trying to push Lance out. Out of the memory, but also.

Out of the Red Lion.

Lance had to reach out to his friends before he went back into the past. “It’s... _ rrrrggh… _ .it’s Alfor! He’s— _ hrrgh _ —he’s screwing with Red!”

“What?!” This was probably the one time in Keith’s life that he wanted to understand the Altean alchemy stuff, because whatever it was doing was messing with and hurting Lance in the process. 

Lance bit his lip, his hands a vise on his controls. He wanted to stay with his team to help fight, but there was also something guiding him back to the vision. He wasn’t done seeing something yet. Lance shut his eyes tight, prepping for the weightlessness and spinning of the vision.

_ Fine, you wanna show me something? Lead the way. _

And it went black.

 

\--

 

The battle looked like a swarm of insects attacking a bird. Pods and fighters zipped around while... _ their _ ...Voltron...flew and attacked with futility. Commander Hira’s fighter was the quickest, making surprise attacks and being a general nuisance instead of going for a killing blow.

Alfor scoffed at his own subjects, watching them as if they were playing rather than fighting.

The more intriguing conflict, was unfolding inside Alfor’s head. 

Ever since he saw that  _ boy _ . The one touched by the mark of Altea. The fact Alfor could practically smell the blessing of Oriande on his skin. It was sickening to see his own culture and power bastardized into something so meek and pitiful. Alfor did see potential, but...that boy ALSO climbed into the Red Lion. 

There were some impressive traits he could overlook.

Alfor concentrated again, focusing his energy on the enemy Voltron. He called upon the powers within him, as well as the quintessence throughout the ship. He focused all of his thoughts on the giant mech, raising his hand to reach out to it. He felt a twitch of opposition, but breathed, letting the force against him know it could be lax, and trust him. He also felt something squirm and move through this mind. He didn’t care. What worth we’re his memories to someone else? It wouldn’t deter him of his goal.

Renfrin shuffled behind him, approaching his master. “Excellency, more troops are mobilizing. We could call upon some of our range reinforcements to aid our attack.”

“That won’t be necessary, Renfrin. This will all be over shortly.”

Renfrin fell into a questioning pout. “M—my lord?”

Alfor breathed in, then exhaled. “No matter the reality, all the comets were given by the ancients. They are what connects us. And their reality did unto theirs what I did to mine. And no matter what the reality…”

Alfor looked out over the battle. Voltron struggled against more of his forces. His eyes locked with its right side, its arm, the Red Lion, dangling in space, listing wherever the main body flew. Alfor grimaced.

“... _ I  _ am the Red paladin.”

 

\--

 

“Lance! Lance are you there?!”

Keith was getting real tired of these memory blackouts really quickly. Whatever events Lance was seeing didn’t help the predicament of their current fight for their lives. On top of that, making a fifth of Voltron a liability in the process.

“Okay, Lance is out of commission again, what do we do?” Pidge was getting too good at making Voltron ambidextrous, having to switch between shield and blaster with the flip of a switch. 

“Keep the enemy off the right side, and blast as many of them as you can,” Keith relayed.

“So, just what we’ve been doing?”

“Pidge!”

“Sorry!”

Shiro quirked his head up. “Keith, focus. We’re all in the same spot. We’re all worried.”

Keith breathed. Shiro was right. He just had the unrelenting urge of swooping down to Red’s cockpit to check on Lance. But he had to be the head. He needed to lead his team. 

“Okay, everyone keep firing on the Malteans. Maybe see if we can get an opening back on that hole in the hull.”

“Yeah, gonna be hard when more pods keep coming out every time we blast ‘em. Best we can probably do is ram through with blunt force and make a run for i—AAAAAHHH!”

Hunk was cut short as the falcon-fighter whizzed by, close enough that the sheer force teetered Voltron in space. The paladins gripped their controls to keep steady. Hunk gasped his terror.

“Okay THAT one is NOT helpful at all!”

 

\--

 

Hira was more thrilled than she’d been in years. No giant warships. No long range weapons. Just her and her enemy locked in combat. Blasters firing and ships flying through space. She was in her element.

Hira made a quick attack on Voltron, sweeping in low and shooting upward to put the mech off balance. She laughed as she watched them falter.

“Ha! Your attempts are useless. I will crush you in my palm like the vermin you are!”

She dive-bombed, shooting lasers and spiraling out of sight once more.

 

\--

 

Voltron shook again, the falcon fighter whipping by and out of sight. 

Pidge grunted. “She’s toying with us!”

“No…,” Shiro looked out over the scene. More fighters deployed from the main ship. He caught sight of a few of them at the ripped hole in the hull, shooting beams and welding metal. “She’s stalling us. Each time she pushes us away it gives them more time to defend their ship.”

“So what do we do?!” Hunk was doing a pretty good job of keeping his cool, if he did say so himself. But with one friend unconscious and his others in a spat of trouble, his emotional shields were starting to chip away. “We could go in and go crazy? But that could rattle Lance too much. We stay out here and we’re just sitting ducks!”

Keith clenched his controls. He tried to think of something that could throw off the Malteans. Something they couldn’t expect that would help make and opening for them to—

Keith’s eyes shot wide. “Pidge! On my mark, get ready with your controls!” Keith punched in some codes, then shifted his gears. 

On Pidge’s screen, a light blipped up and showed an access protocol. She grinned.

“Ready when you are!”

Voltron retreated back from a pod of pods. Flipping around, it faced the ship and raised its left arm. Pidge locked onto the hull of the ship. She got her controls ready.

“Target pinned!”

“Fire!”

They both gunned their controls.

Voltron’s shoulder recoiled and the right arm blasted off. The Green Lion’s head shot forward like a rocket, zipping and zooming between fighters and pods in space. In the cockpit, Pidge’s helmet was glued to the headrest due to the speed of the Lion. 

Three tics later, she crashed Lion-head first into the same hole the Red Lion had made earlier. With a few quick switch flips and a gear shift, Pidge sent out an ion beam from Green’s mouth, destroying platforms and exploding energy pipes, adding more chaos and destruction to the engine room of the Maltean base. 

Pidge snickered, pulling back her controls and reversing from the hole. The Green Lion shot backward, passing by frantic Maltean pods either trying to shoot her down, or rushing to the damage of the hole. Green’s head sped up, reaching and locking back into the left arm of Voltron. Pidge sighed, happy with her work.

Keith saw the head click back into place on his screen. “Were you able to take down their Voltron?”

“No. But I did make it an even bigger mess in there. They’ll be having trouble upstairs for sure.”

“Alright, then let’s take the opportunity while they’re scrambled. Thrusters at full!”

Shiro and Hunk punched it. Voltron’s legs blasted their engines, and accelerated toward the hull of the ship. They were only a league away—

An ion beam struck maybe inches away from them. Voltron went into a full and sudden reverse, saving their lives by mere tics. Looking above, a large battlement perched on one of the spires of the castle ship. A second beam was already charging, and also shifting to get a better aim.

“Move! Move!” Keith shifted his gears to turn Voltron. The team responded with their own gear changes. Voltron fled back as the beam tailed after them, tracing the mech’s trail. The retreat forced them back further than they were before.

“Can’t we just get ONE good hit on these guys?! It feels like we’re playing ‘no hit-backsies!’” Hunk gasped out. His heart was being taken from high to low like a tower drop coaster.

Shiro scanned the wreckage. “They’re protecting it with everything they have. The only way we can beat them is if we give them all  _ we _ have.”

Keith gritted. The only way they could do THAT is if they had all five paladins working together.

And what great timing, with one of their teammates out of commission.

Keith only hoped Lance was okay, the stuff in his mind hopefully not causing him grief.

 

\--

 

Lance’s mind was filled with grief.

Or at least insanity; the ache in his head made it hard to differentiate the two.

Flashes of epic space fights and flying robots crossed his vision. He saw the original paladins form Voltron again and again. He glimpsed scenes of Alfor at the rift crater, taking reads of the energy. The oddest sight was images of Galran citizens in beds, sweating and breathing heavily. Hospital personnel rushed to and from patients, applying cold compresses and medicines that looked minimally effective. People screamed and laughed maniacally, like their minds were being split apart.

Lance’s head was near it’s popping point, before the vision plopped him back in the lab on Daibazaal. 

As before, Alfor was hunched over a computer screen, frantically typing sequences and letters. Lance didn’t want to get any closer, until loud footsteps bounded behind him. Lance shrieked out a gasp, Zarkon passing right through him. Lance was pulled along by an invisible rope like a dog that didn’t want to go for a walk.

“Alfor! This has gone on long enough! You said you needed time and look where it’s gotten us!”

Alfor murmured something inaudible. Lance felt a sharp prick of irritation touch his mind, followed by an increasing annoyance.

Zarkon continued his pleas. “People are succumbing more and more quickly the longer we wait! Whatever experiments you’ve tried haven’t done anything. All this quintessence floating around will do nothing but overload my citizens. It’s time we shut that rift for good.”

“The  _ rift _ , is our portal into infinite knowledge, Zarkon. We close it and we lose the only chance at finding a cure for what’s ailing Daibazaal.”

Zarkon brought a hand to his head. “The rift is the REASON everyone is falling ill! We may not have seen any of those creatures come out again, but the energy still leaks from the particle barrier, spreading throughout the planet. If we get rid of it, we might be able to save everyone from this madness.”

Alfor stiffened. “Or...if we go through,” he whispered.

“Pardon?”

Alfor turned, and Lance felt the room chill.

Alfor hadn’t been eating. His sullen features were hidden by a scraggly and frayed beard. His eyes looked milky, and fractured like spiderwebs. His Altean marks looked like they were growing down his face like lime tears. Everything about him seemed sharper and jagged, unlike a few flashbacks ago with a more fit and jovial young monarch. 

Alfor eyed Zarkon. “Quintessence is life itself. It’s what powers us, animals, plants, the planets and the cosmos themselves. We could go through the rift and surely find a cure for this illness.”

“You talk madness, Alfor.”

“I talk a chance! An opportunity to save everyone if given a shred of confidence—“

“And what do you expect to find on the other side? More of those creatures? More quintessence that’s been the cause of all of this?”

Alfor paused. Lance sensed a great hesitation emanating off of him. Alfor breathed deeply before he spoke.

“I believe...we may find another reality...where a cure for this illness is found.”

Zarkon stared slack-jawed and brow creased. It was a good six tics before he spoke. “You CANNOT be serious.”

“There are infinite possibilities for the multiverse, Zarkon! There is a great chance one mirrors our own, but has a way to stop this sickening madness! Voltron has the properties to pass through the rift and find one, I’m sure!”

“You speak of experiments and theories. People are DYING. In THIS universe! Voltron defends THIS universe! There’s no telling what would happen anyway!”

Alfor clenched his fists. “I am positive it will work. I’ve been finding more and more evidence of Oriande—“

“ _ Oriande _ , is an old Altean myth and you  _ know _ it, Alfor! You’ve become so obsessed with knowledge and discovery that you can’t see the people who need your efforts here and now! For the ancients’ sake, your own wife and daughter lie in infirmary beds and you occupy your time here!”

Lance winced as Alfor winced. Lance didn’t go into another flashback, but he could feel Alfor’s memories: Queen Melenor and Allura came to Daibazaal to stay in Zarkon’s guest home for months. Their time in the Galran homeland exposed them to the quintessence from the rift, and they collapsed. Lance felt the twinge of guilt that Alfor wore on his face.

Zarkon took in a deep and exasperated breath. “We are the only ones who can do anything to help. You said us paladins being exposed to Voltron helps shield us from the quintessence. Which means we should use that to dismantle the rift and end this suffering.”

“If we do that we lose knowledge that could aid us and help millions! Let’s make for an excursion into the rift and surely we can—“

“I WILL not leave my own wife sick in bed to risk something that is IMPOSSIBLE!”

The air was hot. Lance kept his eyes darting back from one ruler to the other. Just a while ago, he’d seen them be the best of friends. Now, the fissure on Daibazaal’s surface wasn’t the only rift creating problems.

Alfor wouldn’t meet Zarkon’s eyes. Lance felt another spike of guilt. The only thing he noticed was how small they were, and how quickly they passed through his mind. Almost like they were an obligation instead of a legitimate feeling. 

“I...do feel your pain, Zarkon. I only hope we can find a cure quickly, so we may help Honerva as well...and your future child.”

Zarkon gritted his teeth. Pure desperation pulled at his mouth. “I can only keep my hopes so high. As long as I can save my wife…” He didn’t finish.

Alfor turned back to his console. Lance noticed an invisible barrier erected between the two. 

“We can enclose the rift with another  particle barrier. It should block off the excess quintessence for us to at least control the outbreak. I assure you my friend, the answers lie within it. Just give me a chance.”

Lance watched Zarkon carefully. He'd always been terrified of the giant alien that, a few years ago, was trying to kill him and his friends. This Zarkon was poised, determined, caring, and thoughtful. Lance was in awe at how his former mortal enemy was only doing what he could do to save his people. And what seemed to be the obstacle in doing that was Alfor’s stubbornness.

Zarkon sighed. “So be it. Tend to your...research, and report immediately if you find anything.” He turned and walked a few steps, before looking back. “Go see your family. You may be trying to help them, but the best help they can get is seeing you, my friend.”

Alfor didn’t answer, as Zarkon walked out, the door rushing closed behind him. 

Lance looked at Alfor. The King was stiff. Like nothing could move him. Lance got the sinking feeling that despite Zarkon’s suggestion, Alfor wouldn’t go see his family for some time.

Then Lance got a painful thrum behind his eyes, his head pounding, and was thrust back into the darkness once more. 

 

\--

 

Voltron dodged another beam of light from the ion cannon. It zig-zagged around the bottom pillars of the castleship, trying to take cover while still looking for an opening to the gaping hole in the hull. Add that to the multiplying fighter pods shooting lasers randomly in their direction, along with the annoyance of—*THUNK*!—…a CERTAIN fighter that was getting INCREASINGLY annoying every time she hit Voltron with another surprise attack.  

Pidge growled out an angry sigh. “Is there ANYTHING we can do?! Playing defense with a limp arm isn’t going to do us much good if they keep coming for us!”

“I’m with you Pidge, but what choice do we have? Lance is going in and out of his freaky Altean vision right in the middle of a dogfight here,” Hunk tried to sympathize.

Shiro braced another rumble from laser fire. “We need to take out at least one of these elements. Give us a breather to think of a plan.”

Keith looked around at his options. They had the ion cannon above them, a hoard of pods like a swarm of bees, and the most annoying aspect of a relentless fighter jet making fools of themselves. Keith settled on the easiest.

“Hunk! Shoulder cannon! But focus all targets on that ion cannon!”

Hunk complied, punching his bayard, the cannon springing to life. Voltron ducked around a small group of pods, gained some well needed clear space, and aimed. 

“Target locked!”

“Fire!”

Dozens of beams shot from the cannon, but they all danced to one spot, convening like the light of a laser-guided comet, and hit the ion cannon. An explosion of red and fire lit up the side of the hull, washing Voltron in an orange glow. For a tic, the paladins smiled, celebrating their offense, but switched right back to defense as the pods caught up to them. Voltron turned tail, back to being chased. 

“We need a better plan than this gotcha-last smacking!” Pidge shouted.

Keith clenched his controls for the thirty-sixth time this fight. His brow was damp and his heart hammeried inside his chest.

“C’mon Lance,” he whispered. “We need you.”

 

\--

 

Lance was still a bit busy.

His brain picked bits and pieces of memories to show him. More people getting sick. Funeral pyres for those who had passed. A second particle barrier encircling the first one on the rift. Hospital beds growing empty. Sobs of relief from reunited, healthy family members. Shouts and cries of rage and grief.

And then dark.

Lance blinked, opening his eyes carefully.

He was back in the lab. For some reason, it was much quieter than before. The only noise was the whir of the generator connected to the rift creature’s tank, the monster swirling in its tube. The lab itself looked ransacked. Papers littered the floor. Equipment was either smashed or flown across tables where it shouldn’t be. A window was broken. 

And there stood Alfor, again, his back to Lance, leaning against his console. Lance could tell his hair was longer, scraggly. There was a tension around Alfor, one that Lance didn’t want to approach.

The whooshing of the doors behind him revealed Zarkon, a dark face hid his eyes. As he walked over, Lance held up a hand, as if to go for a high-five (he’d been growing fond of other-universe Zarkon). The Emperor passed right through Lance’s hand like nothing, stopping behind Alfor. He kept quiet for what felt like a full minute.

“...I...I am  _ truly _ ...deeply, sorry, my friend. I wish...I wish there was something I could do.”

Alfor said nothing. Only twitched eerily, like he was holding back some choice words. Lance looked between the two curiously. He wondered what could have happened for Zarkon to give such a heartfelt apology—

...Lance looked down to Alfor’s hand. Gripped in it, tight, was a single juniberry.

Lance put it together, and his heart sank.

They didn’t make it.

Zarkon breathed in and out. His comfort levels looked like they were in the red, eyes darting from side to side, unsure of what to say. “I...I want you to know...Honerva and I...we will help with everything we can…”

Zarkon trailed off, noticing Alfor murmuring to himself. While Zarkon couldn’t hear, Lance could pick up some choice phrases: “have to go through...possibility would be amplified by finding...can use Voltron…”

Zarkon leaned his head. “...Alfor?”

He didn’t turn.

“ _ Alfor _ .”

“Not now. I’m projecting these probabilities onto my hypothesis.”

Zarkon blinked in confusion. Then, to Lance’s surprise, he gripped Alfor by the shoulder and turned him around, making the Altean face him—

Lance felt the gasp in his face.

Disheveled was a compliment. Alfor looked manic. His hair was even longer, mixing with his beard. Wrinkles wrapped around his cheeks and his temple. His eyes were beyond broken, glassy and a blue like dry ice. No emotion was visible in them. When Zarkon turned him around, he was met with no resistance, as any muscle Alfor used to have had deteriorated into lean skin and bone.

Zarkon looked over Alfor’s shoulder at his computer and notes. His face lowered into disappointment and annoyance. “...You’re NOT going to do ANYTHING with that rift, Alfor. They’re GONE.”

Alfor shoved Zarkon’s hand off. He grounded himself. “Zarkon, we have the one thing that could aid us at our fingertips! Loved ones lost could be found again! We wouldn’t have to have people grieve—“

“Listen to yourself! You talk of other universes and alternate selves, but that’s NEVER going to be Melenor, it’s never going to be Allura. I know you’re hurting and I want you to push through it, but this is ludicrous!”

“You would deny your own people the chance to see their families again? We can use Voltron, we can bridge universes together and see them—“

“We WILL NOT use Voltron to jump into other universes! As leader I forbid it! From where I stand that rift has caused more problems than fixed them! We should be rid of it once and for all while my people are recovering.”

“YOU WILL NOT DESTROY THE RIFT!”

…

Lance was frozen. He didn’t want to astrally be in the room anymore. It was getting so tense and so heated he for sure thought weapons were about to be drawn. But, the two men stared at one another. Wide eyed and nostrils flaring. Alfor’s teeth were bared. 

Zarkon shut his eyes slowly in thought. He breathed in an angry breath, then released it. 

“You’re leaving Daibazaal. You need to rest and grieve, but not here. That rift...those creatures,” Zarkon pointed to the tank, “are messing with your head. You need to calm down, and go home.”

Alfor looked insulted. “You can’t exile me. I have all of my research here. The breakthroughs I’m on the edge of—“

“That you will NOT be breaking. Alfor, talk of other realities is madness. You need to ground yourself in the one you are in now...Go home. Be king to your people.”

Alfor gripped his hands tight. His eyes were wild with a stifled rage. Lance felt the rage course through his own body, and was terrified of the thoughts of what Alfor wanted to do to Zarkon. 

Alfor released his hands and looked to the side. “...while you be an emperor, with your queen and newborn prince.”

“Alfor—“

Alfor shoved past him, hitting Zarkon’s side as he did. Alfor stormed toward the door. Lance didn’t moved fast enough and Alfor phased right through him. Lance felt every emotion shock his system. Alfor’s grief and anger wasn’t fiery. It was cold. Stale. Lance gasped for breath, the air knocked out of his lungs (okay, HOW? He was an astral projection and not PHYSICALLY there!).

Alfor left the lab, leaving Zarkon staring at the closing door.

Lance didn’t even get a chance to catch his breath fully before his head pounded, pulling him back into the black of the shifting vision.

 

\--

 

Lights and images rocketed in Lance’s mind. It was like a fast-forward on one of those old-timey cassette videos his parents would talk about; a loud whine while the pictures skipped bits and had a weird grain as they flashed by.

Lance saw the Red Lion get packed with Alfor’s things, along with the tube housing the rift creature. He saw Alfor standing on the bridge of a castle ship, approaching a column of light. Another flash and he saw Zarkon and the other paladins guarding the rift on Daibazaal, looking onto it nervously. Flash, and Alfor was inside…the temple at Oriande, walking the halls. Flash; the other paladins around a table, discussing and agreeing on something. Flash; Alfor emerging from Oriande, looking upon his ship, a glow in his eye. Flash; Alfor on his ship in the engine room, Alteans hooking the Red Lion up to tubes and wires, running to a control console encasing the rift creature. Flash; the four paladins circled the rift. Simultaneously, the Lions opened their jaws and released their ion beams. Rock and debris flung everywhere, a bright pop of light burst in front of them, and the rift was gone. Flash; Alfor stood at the bridge again, looking out to space. Levels on his dash read that power was reaching a maximum output, peaking. Flash…and Lance was back in the dark.

 

\--

 

Lance gasped, opening his eyes. 

He was floating in space. This time at least, he was stationary, and not drifting aimlessly for entertiny like a few years ago. He turned and saw Daibazaal; a red and purple planet with a mountainous underside that looked jagged and spiky. Lance looked behind and saw the Altean castleship looming above, red lights blipping as it made its descent down. 

Flashes turned Lance around. Four lights streamed from Daibazaal. The four Lions shot into space, creating a line between the planet and the Altean ship. While Lance was out in space to see the panoramic view, his mind let him see and hear what was going down in the cockpits and on the bridge of the characters in the vision.

Alfor frowned, bringing up a video screen of Zarkon, himself painted as still and composed as he could be.

“Zarkon, this isn’t exactly the Galran hospitality you’re known for. What are you doing?”

Zarkon swallowed, but then set his jaw. “My friend, I will be blunt. We have destroyed the rift on Daibazaal. The threat to the people was too great. It’s best for all that it’s now gone.”

Lance was frozen with fear. Alfor looked like he was two tics away from a blood vessel popping. The sheer outrage on his face struck dread through Lance’s heart. Alfor pinched his lips with bitter disgust.

“You have no idea what you’ve done. Destroyed countless hours or research and discovery. My life’s work was dedicated to unlocking the secrets of that rift!”

“Your life’s work is to be a king to your people! For the ancients’ sake Alfor! Please, see reason!”

Alfor remained silent. He shut his eyes, concentrating. Then opened them, his mind set.

“Fine, I’ll be a king.” He turned to an Altean soldier. “Fire upon Daibazaal.”

Lance watched in horror as red lights glowed, power reserves being activated. Lance saw in his mind the engine room; the Red Lion hooked up to tubes and wires, it’s power being siphoned off to  another part of the ship. Lance saw the rift creature in its canister spaz out, its own quintessence being used. All of the energy on the ship routed to the bow, a red beam growing in energy. With the push of a button, the power shot like an arrow, a shaft of bloody crimson piercing space, and struck its target. A flash of light enveloped the crafts in space, and Daibazaal exploded. 

The Lions turned, watching in shock and awe at the planet’s destruction. Explosions rattled the surface. Rock and debris flung every direction. Lance could hear in his mind the screams and cries of citizens that were scrambling for safety, only to be met with bitter demise. He could see each paladin’s face; pure terror and disbelief. Zarkon’s face hung slack, Lance sure that the Emperor was devastated for his planet, his people.

His family.

The Black Lion turned, the rage in Zarkon’s voice building. “What have you DONE?!”

Alfor was a face of marble. He looked at the soldier again. “Fire upon the Lions.”

The beam lit up again, the Maltean ship tilting to cover more distance, then fired.

The light was so bright that Lance had to cover his eyes. A beat later, the light receded, and Lance dropped his arms. 

The Lions floated aimlessly in space. The lights were gone from their eyes. Parts broke off of each of them. Blue’s paw was missing. One of Black’s wings drifted away from its body. 

Lance watched them, his heart contracting at seeing them...gone. But then turned when the Maltean ship approached, getting closer to the Lions. Lance’s vision shifted back to the bridge, despite how he wanted to be as FAR away as possible from Maltean Alfor. 

“Collect the Lions. Get started on their quintessence transfusion with the rift entity. They should take just as easily as the Red Lion,” Alfor addressed a scientist.

Lance’s vision began to fade as the pods flew out to collect the Lions…

 

\--

 

Sparks danced in front of his eyes. The bright lights of welding made him squint. He saw Malteans rig and move the Lions into their respective Voltron spots manually. Dark quintessence sifted through tubes into the giant mech. Slowly, the proud warrior of Voltron grew more and more grotesque, turning into the reptile-like horror Lance had seen a few minutes ago. 

Lance saw glimpses of scientists typing away. Gauges read the amounts of quintessential energy being put out by Eviltron. He saw Alfor on the bridge, standing at a station identical to the Teleduv console on the Castle of Lions. Lance braced himself as he felt a dark energy course through his mind, and watched Alfor open up a red portal in space. 

The same portal the Malteans used to reach his Altea.

Lance blinked.

He was standing in the middle of a forest. Dark trees grew around him. To his front, he saw Alfor and more Malteans crowd in front of a moss clad rock. Lance leaned in to see, and gasped. The rock glowed the same luminescent blue. It was a reality comet, glistening with power. It looked serene in its enclosure. However, Lance knew that wouldn’t last. 

“All tests confirm the ore, my lord,” Renfrin said as he typed away at his tablet. “It would appear that the comets have an interdimensional magnetism to them, allowing for jumps through the quintessence field to be brief. It also cuts on the distance to locate them afterwards.”

Alfor glared at the comet for a tic, then turned his heel, flustering Renfrin.

“Load it onto the ship. Locate the next one.”

“Y—Yes my lord.”

Lance stood still as Alfor passed through him again. Clutching his chest, Lance gasped out a great breath, feeling the overwhelming despair, determination, and outright rage that Alfor felt. Another blink, and Lance was lost in the dark.

 

\--

 

He was starting to notice how much he was blinking, and that made him really weirded out and self-conscious of his blinking.

Lance stood on the bridge of the Maltean warship. Looking around, he saw more of those lamps with the smokey rift creatures squirming about.  Lance deduced Alfor had made more fishing trips in the quintessence field, catching more to add to his power collection. Soldiers and scientists mingled around, looking at tablet screens or going over schematics. Lance caught a glimpse of Hira addressing a group of sentries. Turning, Lance saw Alfor and Renfrin standing in front of a large window, looking out into space. Pods flew back and forth out of a red reality portal. Most of the ships looked like attack fighters. 

Lance approached slowly, getting a better ear as to what the two were talking about.

“Another comet successfully obtained my lord. That makes the twenty-sixth successful mission this phoeb. And with each added power source, we are able to travel more freely between realities to collect more.”

Alfor remained silent at Renfrin’s report. Lance could tell this was no news to Alfor. The king only huffed, disinterested.

Renfrin weighed on his heels nervously. “I...have also looked into the research...you requested. I have...indeed...found reports of... _ them _ ...in a multitude of realities. However, there hasn’t been one that matches your criteria—“

“That’s enough.”

Renfrin flinched. Alfor didn’t change his gaze, but Lance felt him get more resigned. Alfor breathed in, almost like he had made a long and difficult decision.

“I have concluded there is no point to exploit other realities. No matter how parallel they may seem, there will never be one that matches our own.”

Renfrin let out a silent sigh of relief. Lance eyed him, wondering how much of a hassle Alfor had put him through researching realities. Lance’s mind did a quick flash, memories of a beautiful woman and a young girl filling his head. 

Alfor had been looking for Melenor and Allura.

But, Lance pondered, If Alfor had given up that venture, that didn’t explain why the Malteans were still collecting the transreality comets.

Alfor twirled his hand in a circle. A glowing mist appeared around it, eerily dancing through the air. “The ancients were the life-givers of the universe. They bestowed the gifts of quintessence, life itself, for us to use.” Alfor stiffened, straightening himself. “So if I cannot find a suitable duplicate, I will have to do it myself.”

Renfrin’s eyes widened, looking terrified of what Alfor was suggesting. Lance was just confused.

Alfor turned his head, eyes locked with Renfrin’s. “Continue the scans on the realities. As well as the expeditions into the quintessence field to collect entities. Report every comet found to me. Soon we will have enough balanced power to rewrite the cosmos themselves.”

Renfrin bowed quickly and clumsily, turning to walk off and attend his duties. Lance followed his path, the idea slowly dawning on him.

_ Do it myself. Rewrite the cosmos _ .

Lance’s eyes burst open with shock, the realization striking a chord. 

“Did you see what you needed to, child?”

Lance flipped. Alfor was staring dead at him. 

He knew Lance was there.

Lance gripped his head, the splitting ache in his head returning. His mind was a mess of his own terror and Alfor’s rage. Rage towards him for having Altean alchemy, for going to Oriande, for being the Red Paladin. Rage...or jealousy?

Lance was thrust back into the dark, but the pain didn’t subside. He felt a force pushing on him. Pushing him out. Frankly, Lance wanted nothing more than to be out of the memory visions. But it was pushing him out of his own mind too. Like Lance should be just as mad as the king. That he had no right to his power. Lance started to let the pain take him over, too exhausted to fight it anymore. He was done. Why not just let it all fade? It beat the pain in his head. His consciousness waned, drifting away…

...

“...an…”

….

“...ance…!”

….

“LANCE!”

Lance’s eyes shot open. His head still hurt, but deep in his gut knew that he had to answer that voice. He mustered as much strength as he could, pulling himself out of the dark. Lance reached out a hand, grasping to grab at the voice. 

A hand clasped his own, soft, strong, and familiar. For some reason, he could tell the hand was different from the voice calling to him. But, he knew it felt the same way, wanting to bring Lance back to the light. It wanted him to reach that voice. He gripped the hand tight, and let it pull him out, hearing the voice grow louder. 

 

“LANCE!”

 

\--

 

Lance gasped, blinking his eyes rapidly to regain his sight. The light faded, and he could see the warring skies out of Red’s cockpit. He clutched his hands on the controls, already missing the warmth of the hand that rescued him. Lance took in a few more loud breaths of air, happy to finally be out of the vision.

“Lance!”

Lance jerked. The voice from the dark solidified. Keith sounded like he was a hair away from tossing a vocal chord through the air duct, as if it would help him be heard better.

“I’m here! I’m here.”

“Lance!”

A resounding cry of relief exhaled out of each of his friends, ecstatic that he was back in the conscious world.

“Are you okay man?! How’s your brain feeling?” Hunk activated his thrusters, steering Voltron back a bit from the fight.

“Fine. I’m fine. But I’ve figured out what Alfor’s deal is.”

“Whaddya mean?” Pidge brought up the shield just as a swarm of pods grouped together and fired. Voltron deflected them easily, then she switched to her ion cannon to take them out. The ships disintegrated into space ash.

Lance gripped his controls. “I mean the dude is a lunatic, but he’s not out for inter-dimensional conquest. Well, he’s partly out for that, but that’s not his main goal—“

“Lance. Really need the short version.” Shiro shifted his controls, Voltron’s right leg kicking a group of pods, knocking them into another group that was advancing.

“Alfor isn’t collecting comets to take over realities. He’s doing it to make his OWN reality!”

The paladins were silent for a tic. Pidge spoke up, “I’m sorry, WHAT?!”

“In this universe, the comet rift caused quintessence to leak and make everyone sick. He lost his wife and Allura, went crazy, and destroyed Daibazaal and the old paladins when Zarkon imploded the rift. He’s been to Oriande, used rift creatures, and went to all those realities to get enough power to make his own universe!”

Keith locked on to more approaching crafts, targeting them before he would call for the shoulder cannon. “Is that even possible?”

Pidge felt the headache coming. “I have no idea. This isn’t just reality jumping with dimensions that exist. This is creating matter, time, space, from nothing. He’s trying to play god.”

“So what’s he gonna do? Copy and paste his universe then just edit what he needs to?” Hunk questioned.

“Hunk, we saw what happens when a reality gets destroyed. There’s no telling what would happen to the fabric of existence by manually structuring a universe . It could send shockwaves of dimensional distortion even worse than the space patch-jobs the Malteans leave behind when they reality jump.” Pidge tried not to let her voice show how nervous she was getting. The implications of introducing an entire space that doesn’t exist could be catastrophic.

Keith gulped. “Okay. Bottom line. Not good. That just means we gotta take them out right now.”

“They’ve channeled all the collected  comets’ quintessence into Eviltron. If we take that thing out, that should stop them for good!” Lance recalled his visions, hoping what he remembered would be the right course of action.

Keith nodded. “Alright. Then we don’t have any time to lose. We’re gonna ram ‘em. Full steam ahead!”

Shiro and Hunk gunned the thrusters, surging Voltron forward and back into the fray.

Dozens of fighters and pods cascaded around them. Lasers flew in every direction, showering Voltron in red beams. The mech spun to dodge them, returning the favor with the left ion cannon, blasting them from the sky. Another boost sent Voltron further into the mess. Pods tried mobilizing to face the bot, but scattered as Voltron whizzed by them.

They were maybe four tics from the hole in the hull,  when a barrage of lasers hit their side, knocking Voltron off course. Twisting, they saw the falcon-fighter coming in hot.

“Getting tired of her!” Pidge complained.

“Sword now!” Keith jammed his bayard in to the ignition. He waited for the surge of energy...that didn’t come.

“Lance!”

Lance was feeling as exasperated as Keith. He chunked his controls back and forth, desperately reaching out to his Lion.

“Come on Red! This is no time for your rebel attitude! Come. ON!”

Red stayed silent. Lance practically strained his neck reaching out to the Lion. The only thing he got in return was the same pulling sensation, drawing Red in one direction and wanting to kick Lance out.

Stalling too long, the falcon-fighter knocked into Voltron, sending it careening to the front of the Maltean ship. The paladins righted themselves, shaken from the strike.

“ _ Rrgh _ ...Lance, what’s wrong?” Shiro grunted.

Lance groaned himself. “I don’t know! Red’s gone radio silent!”

 

\--

 

Alfor was mildly amused. He’d expected the Red Lion to succumb quickly. Even if it was from another reality, the amount of energy he had stored from the collected comets, along with the rift entities, should have been plenty to assert his control. That, and channeling his power through his own universe’s Voltron, was more than enough to convince his transreality comrade to bow to his will. However, the other Red Lion, combined with Voltron, must be allowing it to keep some sense of self. Perhaps...the boy was also proving more of an obstacle than he thought.

Alfor was ready to change that.

“Renfrin. Prepare the main cannon. Use the backup generators to add some extra power. That should do plenty, without completely annihilating our foes.”

“Yes sir. Umm, you DON’T want them destroyed?”

Alfor turned to the window, hand still outstretched.

“If I can gain more power from Oriande, I might as well seize the chance. We’re so close. Just a little more energy, and I’ll have what I want.”

Renfrin bowed, then turned to address the soldiers, and began powering up the main cannon.

 

\--

 

Voltron stood stagnant, Lance trying his best to connect with his Lion.

“Look Red, I know I’ve been a little wishy-washy the last couple of years. But I’m telling you all my instincts are all on fighting the bad guys. Can’t you help me out a little?”

Lance tried for his more lighthearted tone, but there couldn’t be more panic at the back of his mind. His friends needed him and he was a limp limb cramping up. 

Shiro knew the situation wasn’t ideal, but tried to emulate some of his new leg-support duties. “Lance, calm down. The Lions never react to demands, remember.”

“Yeah but being in the middle of a war zone isn’t exactly the easiest place to calm down, Shiro!”

“Uhh, guys?” Hunk jerked his head up to the Maltean ship. “What’s that?”

Everyone looked up. From the center of the Maltean ship, a bright red light sparked and shone. An orb of energy expanded, streams of power flowing through the ship to give it more juice. 

And Voltron was directly in front of it.

“We gotta move!” Keith shouted. He thrust his controls forward, beginning the high speed protocol for the rest of the limbs.

...But Voltron didn’t move.

“What’s going on?!”

Hunk dragged his controls back and forth. “Something’s keeping my Lion from moving!”

Pidge struggled against her thrusters. “Mine too!”

The paladins all tried to ignite their Lions, but a magnetic force kept them in place. Lance knew, specifically, which part of Voltron was the pole. His mind ached with the feeling of rejection, pushing the bond with his partner.

“Guys...Alfor’s trying to break into Red! He’s going full Maltean mind powers and trying to take him over!”

“Fight it, Lance!” Shiro shouted. He knew all too well what it was like for the enemy to worm their way into his mind. But of course, now was the worst possible time to be in that situation.

The orb slowed in its growth, glowing a bright white and flickering red electricity. Lance felt like he could string up a hammock with the pause hanging in the air.

“Incoming!”

The beam fired, a spear of hot-white power shot forward.

Voltron was engulfed.

The paladins screamed and cried out. The power coursing through their mech burned and stung. Shocks rippled through their bodies. Their connection from one another threatened to tear apart.

Then.

 It did.

 

\--

 

Renfrin looked upon their work. The hyper quintessence beam struck perfectly. He watched with some glee, as the Lions, now separated, drifted listlessly through space. He was a bit upset with the time it took to power up, however, and made a mental note to check on the reserve pathways to make sure they were functioning at full capacity in the future.

“Target successfully hit my lord. We can retrieve the Lions on your command.”

...Alfor was silent, facing the window.

Renfrin leaned in, looking sheepishly up at the King. “My Lord?”

Alfor had his hand still stretched out, a red glow emanating from his palm. His eyes were shut, a meditative look on his face. His marks glowed down his cheeks, appearing like white tears. 

Renfrin took a step back, not wanting to interrupt his master. Whenever the King got like this, it was best to keep a distance, lest you wanted to be beheaded on the spot for disturbing him. Renfrin looked back out to the Lions, imagining what his King was doing to them.

 

\--

 

Shiro scrunched his eyes, blinked a few times, then opened them slowly. His body ached all over, the overload of energy finally receding. Blue’s cockpit flickered. He could hear her try to come back on as soon as she could, sensing the danger if they waited too long. Shiro mentally consoled her, letting her know they all just got hurt, and agreed they needed to move.

“Every…everyone okay?”

Shiro heard a grunt in his com, resting his spirits a bit. Hunk’s tired voice was like a dose of serotonin. “B...barely. That was like being fried and frozen all at once.”

Shiro let out a hefty sigh, hearing the smallest paladin’s groans of disgruntlement.

“That...that was like a shot of pure quintessence. Most likely mixed with those stinking rift creatures and their negative energy. It’s like a poison to the Lions.”

Shiro thought on that. The power they were hit with definitely felt dark and invasive. Like a weed splitting the rocks in a concrete path, pulling them apart.

Blue’s power levels grew slowly, but Shiro knew they couldn’t wait for long.

“Keith. What do you want to do? Form Voltron again?”

…

Silence.

Shiro’s nerves stood on the end of a one hundred foot drop. Panic started to climb up his voice. “Keith? Keith, you there?”

Nothing. Not a sound or static came through. Shiro felt a shock in his brain, making his spine tingle. His voice switched to full on brother mode. “Lance? Keith? Respond, are you there?”

Pidge and Hunk turned to look at the other Lions. Black and Red were dark. Both Lions were limp, their limbs floppy despite being made of metal. The other two paladins own fears began to grow.

“Lance? Buddy? Come on man, now is NOT the time to play around.”

“Keith? Keith, wake up!”

The three paladins’ pleas turned to demands, then to shouts. They reached out with their voices, and with their Lions, trying to establish some kind of link to their red and blue boys. Each shout grew more distressed, their minds shifting from the danger of the Malteans to making sure their friends were okay.

 

\--

 

Inside the Black and Red Lions, it was quiet. Not a light or beep showed any spark of life. In either seat of the cockpits, Lance and Keith sat motionless. They both breathed slowly, unconscious from the blast. The shouts from their friends fell short, neither having any capacity to hear them. Without Keith and Lance to guide them, their Lions floated aimlessly, as Maltean fighters started to enclose on the paladins. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ......Hate me yet?  
> Yeah I can never give the boys a break, ya know? Just have to wait until next time!


	11. Red Paladins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith have self-discoveries. Shiro tears a new one. Hunk finally forms the head. Keith gets taken along for a ride.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Birthday Lance.

He gasped.

His eyes shot open.

He blinked.

He was standing.

Panic settled into his chest.

Keith looked around. He definitely wasn’t in the Black Lion anymore. The best way he could describe his surroundings was…an expansive glass floor, stretched out and reflecting the cosmos and stars above him. A dark orb, like a black, eclipsed moon, loomed above him. It was all so familiar. The difference? Everything was tinted in a red glow.

He was in the astral plane.

Confusion weighed on Keith’s mind. Why was he here? He was just fighting in Voltron against the Malteans. There was a cannon and a bright light, some pain. Then, nothing. 

Keith felt a low growl in the back of his mind, one that sounded familiar... VERY familiar. He twisted around. Sitting, staring down at him with, Keith could feel, a judging eye, was the Red Lion. The questions kept building in Keith’s head.

“Red? What’re you—what am I doing here?”

“Peculiar. I called upon the Red Paladin. And somehow, a mutt gets dragged along.”

Keith whipped around, the voice startling him. Standing about ten feet away on the other side of Red, was King Alfor. Keith remarked how imposing the gray and red armor on the Malteans looked. He thought they looked like stone statues; immovable and cold.

Keith kept still, but took a deep breath, lifting his shoulders to put on a braver demeanor. He returned Alfor’s stare, a look that exuded loathing and disgust. 

Alfor looked up at the Lion, a longing gaze glossing over his eyes. “It’s been many decaphoebs since I’ve seen this beast in this form. Proud. Unyielding. Loyal.” Alfor looked back down to Keith, a snarl turning his nose up. “Unlike that scum Galra that destroyed my plans for a better future.”

Keith mentally gulped. Something about this whole scenario freaked him out. He had to remind himself that this Alfor was nowhere near the benevolent counterpart from his own universe. Granted, the only Alfor that Keith really knew was the AI on the Castle of Lions, and that one tried to kill him and his friends. Maybe they weren’t so different. 

Alfor squinted his eyes. “It’s deplorable. For one, another Galra in another universe leads Voltron through the mud. But what makes me sick, is seeing that a Galra, of all people, has tainted the Red Lion with their vile stench. A Galra  _ mutt _ no less.”

_ Perfect _ , Keith thought,  _ this again _ . He figured Alfor must have gotten bitter against the Galra after Zarkon blew up his quintessence rift. His Maltean alchemy powers also must have given him the ability to sniff out Keith’s Galra heritage. Keith tried to compartmentalize. This wasn’t his universe. Those weren’t his Galra. This Alfor’s grudge had nothing to do with him or HIS people. But...it still kind of stung.

But it brought up another question. Why  _ WAS _ he here? He was the Black Paladin, the leader of Voltron. Sure, he’d piloted Red before, but that was a long time ago. If Alfor called for the Red Paladin, then why was Keith—

Keith froze, Alfor’s words finally clicking in his brain.

He was calling for the Red Paladin.

He was trying to call for Lance.

And instead, he got Keith. (The implications of THAT were concerning enough, but Keith was more worried that Lance was still the original target).

Keith widened his stance. He didn’t want to, as he’d rather figure out how to get to Lance and make sure he was okay, but he checked his surroundings, watching Alfor closely, preparing for a fight. 

Alfor shut his eyes. Keith noticed how the King held himself. Powerful and still, but there was something unstable in how his face and hands twitched. This was a man with strength and poise, that also looked like a beehive was swarming in his mind. Alfor looked up at Keith, right in the eyes.

“Pitiful, how low the Red Lion’s standards have fallen, to allow such insects to be its pilots.”

Alfor reached to his side. Flashing into existence was a charcoal Altean broadsword, adorned in burgundy crystals, and red streaks along the blade that looked like invasive vines. He swung the sword twice to test its weight. Keith felt like he was back in Oriande, waiting for cat-Lotor to decide what to do. Alfor looked at Keith like a predator eyeing its next meal. The king’s eyes flicked up, and Keith had a mini heart attack.

“I can see the stains on the Lion’s life. The pain it has been through. Perhaps I can rub them out.”

And he lunged.

For an older and frail looking man, Alfor was fast. Keith had a split tic to reach for his bayard and bring it up, the sword materializing against Alfor’s. The blades clashed and sparked. Keith felt himself pushed back against Alfor’s weight. Keith unfortunately got a glimpse of the man’s eyes. White like icicles and near as sharp too. Alfor looked like he’d been shattered a hundred times over and crudely put back together again each time.

Alfor backed up and brought down his blade again, Keith parrying blow for blow. Each strike made sparks fly, white lights dancing in the crimson sky. Keith kept on the defense, watching Alfor for any kind of opening, but finding none. 

Alfor grunted through his onslaught. “How dare. A GALRA. Of all creatures. Pilot the Red Lion. The same people. That ended. My life’s work!”

Keith felt each blow in his arms. Alfor didn’t let up for a tic. Obviously the guy had issues if he was blaming an entire race against something that Zarkon did (granted, in Keith’s own universe, that’s what happened with his Alfor and Zarkon, only reversed).

Alfor went for a jab and Keith took the opening, sliding his blade perpendicular along the side of Alfor’s, then pushed with all his might. Alfor twisted away from Keith, giving him the chance to jump back a few paces to catch his breath, huffing and puffing. Alfor turned slowly, eyeing Keith, nary a trickle of sweat down his brow.

“Was that supposed to be an effort?”

Keith gasped. He actually preferred his fight with Lotor. That at least was some kind of righteous anger and moral message to be learned. 

This was pure hatred. 

And Keith was on the wrong end of it.

 

\--

 

He gasped.

His eyes shot open.

He blinked.

He was upright. Which was weird because before he was sitting in a cockpit.

Lance surveyed his surroundings. A large, expansive, red sky stretched out above him. Eyeing the horizon, he was met with a line of pure black, meeting a reflective floor that mirrored the stars above. In the center of the sky, a black orb shone...er, the rim shone, and sucked all of the light within it. Lance mentally reeled, realizing he’d been here before, years ago. As if that realization wasn’t enough, he whipped his head around, looking straight up at the Red Lion, casting its gaze over him.

Lance creased his brow with a question. “Red? Buddy? What’s going on?”

“How pitiful.”

Lance whirled around. Standing only a few feet away, eyes clearly on him, unlike the memory visions, was Alfor. 

Alfor looked up to the Red Lion, a longing in his eyes like someone greeting an old friend. Lance realized that Alfor probably hadn’t seen Red as  _ Red _ in years. Then again, that was the King’s own fault, using those quintessence monsters to make Voltron into a power-leeching beast. 

“Look dude, you are seriously gonna mess stuff up if you keep doing this! You’ve already got patches of space that are warped, and that’s just with those reality jumps. You try to create your own universe and who knows how many people could get hurt?!”

Lance thought words might reach the old man. At one point in time, this Alfor was similar enough to their own; an intellectual. Surely a man of science could see how wrong and dangerous this was.

Alfor slowly looked back down to Lance, unfazed. “Pity, how someone so weak, and inexperienced, could be chosen by the Red Lion. It must have lowered its standards for your universe.”

Lance gulped, the words stinging against his skin. So the guy completely ignored him. Big whoop. That wasn’t going to stop Lance from trying. 

“Alfor. It’s not going to work. I get it, but they’re  _ gone _ . You can’t just bring them back with a wave of your hand. We lost Allura in our universe too. It hurts, but trying to bring them back won’t end well.”

That set Alfor’s jaw into a scowl. Lance shivered, Alfor’s icy eyes turning into sharp blades. 

“I know. And I can see you did nothing to save her.”

Lance froze. How...how did he know? Lance took a mental step back and realized he probably shared some of his own memories looking through Alfor’s. That, or the astral plane was a free for all for emotions and thoughts. And with how strong Alfor was with Altean (or Maltean) alchemy, he could pluck whatever he wanted out of Lance’s mind.

Alfor reached for his side, pulling out a large black Altean broadsword from his hip. The metal glistened like blood against the light of the sky. 

“She gives you power. You have a straight path to the ancient lands of Oriande. And yet you are still too weak to do anything. The forgotten one. The one who failed. How desperate the Red Lion must have been for it to have chosen you.”

And then he lunged. Lance had a split two tics to reach for his own side, summoning his bayard and materializing his own red broadsword. The blades clashed and Lance felt not only the strength behind Alfor’s assault, but the pure quintessence behind his rage. Dark energy swirled around him, meeting with Lance’s own, clearer energy. Alfor had relied so much on the comets’ energy and the power from those rift creature that it had sullied his own spirit. 

Alfor eyed Lance’s sword. “Pathetic. Are you trying to actually emulate strength? Or put on a charade?”

Lance pressed as hard as he could, his muscles burning. He dug his feet into the floor, trying to keep his ground. Alfor pulled back and swung again. Lance parried each blow. He thanked his lucky stars for Keith’s crash course in swordplay a week ago, seeing as how he was going over every move and strategy he had in his head.

Alfor pulled back again to go for a lunge. Lance spun around him, then brought his hand close to his chest, charging it, then thrust it outward. A small bolt of lightning struck Alfor’s armor. The king flinched, shouting, and backed away quickly. Lance had a chance to catch his breath with the attack, bringing up his sword. He made sure not to use too much juice, but he could feel that the fight and even that amount of energy made his legs a little weak. However, the snarl on Alfor’s face was doing a good job too.

“Funny. It’s like you actually think your attempts are accomplishing anything. You probably don’t understand the nature of what being the pilot of the Red Lion means. We are the ones forgotten, the ones left behind. We show nothing but loyalty and devotion and we are thanked by being tossed aside.”

Lance scrunched his face. Like, he knew Alfor had a few screws loose, but he wasn’t too keen on hearing any similarities between the two of them.

“We are not so different, you and I.” (Quiznak) “I do all I can to research the rift between realities, gain untold power and knowledge to save loved ones lost, and my own comrades turn on me, destroying my work and all I have done. You,” Alfor knitted his brows. “You were a loyal warrior, overlooked by those who let themselves into the spotlight. You tried to forge your own talents that were ignored. Then, you cast yourself aside, and your peers moved on. They had everything, and you had nothing but despair.”

Lance didn’t like it. Alfor’s words and the astral plane brought it all back. Memories of the old days of Voltron. Lance trying to be a hero, but being met with laughs and sarcastic remarks. Of doing everything he could for the team, but getting no recognition in return. He remembered his time on the farm, staying secluded as his friends made and lived fantastical dreams, while he kept in the dark. 

_ I was mourning _ , he thought. That’s why he did it. He couldn’t bear to know happiness if that meant being happy without Allura. 

Alfor extended a hand, making Lance blink. “We can rewrite the stars. Make things the way they should be. Our power combined would be everything we need. You could see her again. Live with her. Just as I could.”

Lance eyed the hand. Sweat trickled down his neck. He’d seen Allura. She asked HIM to save the universe. To stop the Malteans from destroying space and time itself. No matter how sweet it sounded, there was one thing Lance knew. He looked up at the king.

“If I said yes to that, Allura would personally tie me up, stick me through a wormhole, and let me float through space for eternity. No dice, mister.”

Alfor frowned, then brought up his sword. “I see, just as misguided and stupid as I thought. No wonder you’re the weakest limb of Voltron.”

He ran. Lance ducked as Alfor slashed his blade. Sliding to the side, Lance spun as he stood to clash their swords together. Sparks flew in the air. Lance caught another wave of energy. While it still felt angry, it also felt...familiar. 

 

\--

 

“Lance! Keith! Guys, say something!”

Shiro’s voice was getting more worn each time he shouted. Keith and Lance had been silent ever since they were force-disbanded from Voltron. Pidge and Hunk’s voices were feeling the strain as well.

“Lance! C’mon buddy! Don’t do this right now!”

“Keith! Please we need you!”

And they did. Behind them, more pods emerged from the Maltean ship. Lasers started to fly towards the Lions. The three tried to form a barrier between them and their unconscious friends.

“Guys? I don’t think we’re gonna be much good on defense if they keep coming out like this!” Hunk activated Yellow’s additional armor, creating a larger surface area to protect their friends. 

A few shots got through the cracks of their defense, bouncing off of the two limp Lions. A tic later, both of their particle barriers went up, encasing both Lions in blue orbs of protection.

Pidge sighed. “Well, at least they know they’re in danger. But what do we do about the Malteans?”

A rush almost knocked her hard to the side. The falcon-fighter whipped by the three Lions, flying in a spiral and somersaulting to come back again. Pidge gripped her controls. 

“Oh let me at her. I’m gonna twist her wiring SO tight—“

“I’ll take care of her. Pidge you and Hunk keep the guys safe.”

“Wait! Shiro!”

Hunk’s calls died in his throat as Shiro shot off after the fighter, leaving him and Pidge behind to pick off pods and defend against more laser barrages.

Shiro blasted a quick tail beam in the falcon-fighter’s direction. The fighter dodged easily and turned around, giving way for the chase. Like the others, Shiro had deduced the only one to be that ruthless and persistent in battle was Commander Hira. While his first priority was keeping his team safe, he did catch on to his own headstrongness. And admittedly, wanting to settle the score for the attack on Altea. 

Hira made another wide somersault, aiming straight down at Blue, lasers coming in hot. Shiro barrel-rolled out of the way just as she shot down. Keeping track of her path, Shiro aimed and shot an ion beam down at her. Too quick, Hira dodged easily, sending the beam into empty space. Shiro cursed, trying to get eyes on her again, and was met with laser fire at his backside, rattling his Lion. He turned Blue around. Sure enough, Hira was looming over him, hovering smugly like she was blatantly showing where she was. 

Shiro gripped his controls tight. It was a good battle, he would admit, but not the time to enjoy an evenly matched fight.

“We’re ending this,” he pledged.

 

\--

 

Hira cackled quietly. It had been too long since she’d been in a duel like this. Her ascension to Commander meant making tactical moves and sending fleets of ships into battle (which she still enjoyed, of course). This was something she missed and craved; a one-on-one fight to determine who was the superior warrior. From the reports of the destroyed sentry bots, she knew exactly who was in this Lion. Her smile widened. 

“Come now,  _ Captain _ . Surely you’ve got more than this to show?”

She gunned her thrusters and dived straight down.

 

\--

 

Shiro had a split tic to dodge. At least Blue was decently perceptive and anticipated the attack.

Hira bolted down past him, leaving Shiro to hold Blue steady from the force. While she was in her descent, he caught a quick target on her and aimed his tail beam, sending some quick shots in the Commander’s direction. A couple made impact, making her craft falter in space. Shiro mentally fist-pumped, happy to finally make a hit on her. His victory was short-lived, as the fighter turned around, sending an onslaught of lasers his direction, along with two tracking beams he was certain were locked on to Blue.

“Quiznak.”

Shiro turned tail and shot off in the opposite direction, making a feeble attempt to avoid the beams. Shifting into reverse, he let one beam pass him by like a rocket. He misjudged his placement though, and felt the second beam impact Blue’s right hind, turning on alerts and alarms of the damage. Shiro felt Blue cry out, empathizing with her pain.

“Hang on, we’ll get through this. I won’t leave you.”

Blue growled in agreement inside Shiro’s head. He nodded, and shifted his thrusters, letting Blue careen to the side behind an engine on the Maltean ship, Hira hot on his tail.

 

\--

 

Keith would’ve preferred a pack of molecats compared to this fight.

Alfor was tough. And while Keith was still in top form thanks to the Blade of Marmora, Alfor had a few tricks up his sleeve. If Keith ever got too far away, Alfor would switch to using alchemy, sending red bolts of lightning his direction and nearly frying his toes off. But when Keith would try to close the distance, he was met with a flurry of attacks, Alfor’s sword whapping against Keith’s like someone with a flyswatter fending off a big fly.

Keith made every attempt to survey Alfor’s style and gain an upper hand, but the king was practically manic, opting for a more disorganized approach to the battle. That left plenty of room for Keith to keep quiet and think, but unfortunately, left more for Alfor to ramble on.

“I pity your team. Such a flippant and absent leader. No wonder you had to sacrifice one of your own to save your universe!”

He struck his sword. Keith felt the metal hit his own, but the clang of the blade sent memories rushing through his head. Keith avoiding his team after Shiro disappeared. Allura leaving to restore realities. He wasn’t recalling the memories himself, but Alfor seemed to be able to make him see his past…

Mistakes.

He could’ve bucked up and taken charge early on, like Shiro wanted. He could’ve done...SOMETHING to try and save Allura. He was the leader. He had to have—

Another clash of Alfor’s sword brought Keith out of his stupor. He panicked, regaining his senses and swinging his blade up for a counter attack, Alfor parrying easily. Keith shook his head. He couldn’t let those kinds of thoughts in his head. Not now. Not when it was literally life or death. In a moment of lapse thinking, Alfor brought up a fist and knocked Keith’s face, sending his helmet flying. While shaken, Keith used the momentum to swing his sword. Alfor lurched away from it. Keith stepped backward and jumped to the side, gaining some ground. Alfor stood in place, eyeing Keith with mild interest and major disgust. 

“Look at that. Running away again. Just as you’ve run away from everything else.”

No.

No no no no he did NOT need to bring this up now. Keith was pretty sure the nagging in the back of his head had at least been muted since Oriande. Or, he had tried to.Keith brought up his blade defensively, as if it would shield himself against Alfor’s words. A nice thought, but one that fell short. Alfor laughed.

“Don’t be a fool. You can try to play brave, but I see a cowardly Galra, itching to scurry off with its tail between its legs. You’ve just proven that’s how they are in every reality.”

Okay, now Keith was getting a little mad. Alfor kept digging and digging into Keith’s skin. Obviously to trip him up, Keith wasn’t dumb. The only stupid thing was it was kind of working. Sometimes he wished his fights could just be fights. No emotional turmoil. No picking at his brain. Just a full on brawl with swords and fists and nothing else. 

Alfor saw otherwise. “And don’t worry. While you won’t make it out of this, I assure you. You would just run away from that piteous boy the moment you set foot back home. You abandoned your own Lion. And you’ll abandon all you care about.”

_ That’s it. _

Keith lunged. He slashed his sword wildly. Alfor was able to catch each stroke, but even he looked more frazzled, keeping up with Keith. Keith got close enough where he could return the favor, and gave Alfor a swift right hook, making him stumble for a second. He regained his posture quickly, and lashed his sword downward, Keith blocking at the last moment.

He didn’t want to hear anymore. All Keith wanted was Alfor to shut his mouth and lose his sword. Keith’s blood boiled. His eyesight started to tinge with red. Well, more red than what the astral plane was giving him. He tried reaching out to the Red Lion, asking for more strength to help take down this monster. But Red’s energy was conflicted. Whatever force Alfor was exerting on the Lion was enough cause for it to hesitate. Keith was determined to rectify that.

Alfor actually laughed, taking the hits in stride, “I can see it all! You will never be able to escape your isolation! It’s imbued in your very existence! Your family. Your comrades. You’ve resigned yourself to solitary and have no desire to stop it. What poor leadership from the head of Voltron.”

Keith yelled as he pushed up from Alfor, disconnecting their blades. He didn’t want to think about it, but more memories bubbled to the surface of his mind. He zeroed in on Alfor, so sure that stopping him would stop the pain behind his eyes.

 

\--

 

Lance knocked Alfor’s hits blow for blow, but the guy was pretty darn quick. Each time Lance thought he had an opening, Alfor was there to block or counter it. Sometimes Lance would switch it up and gain distance, bringing out his blaster to pin the king down. But, Alfor would rush past and dodge that too (seriously, the guy was probably sixty-something in Earth years, how was he THIS good?!).

Alfor approached again and Lance switched back to his broadsword, clashing against one another. Alfor glared up at Lance, the anger radiating off of him like a space heater. Lance’s stomach lurched. He  _ knew _ this heat. Knew the power and emotion behind it. But he couldn’t place how he knew it. 

Alfor swiped again and Lance knocked the blade away, twisting in a pirouette to dodge. Alfor gave Lance his worst stink eye, his glassy eyes and Altean viper marks contorting. Lance cringed at the sight.

“So feeble. So sure you can stop me. I have spent decaphoebs on this task, and I won’t let a worthless and useless facade of a paladin stop me.”

Lance huffed. He had an awkward thought of being back at  _ Garfle Warfle Snick _ , where the whole audience was against him, calling him dumb. Alfor chuckled.

“Yes, you already know. How there is nothing you have that makes you worth anything. That makes you of any use to anyone. You received your powers from Oriande, but what does that make you? Each of your comrades has a role to play. You are an onlooker waiting in the wings.”

Lance frowned (frowned harder, wasn’t exactly a smiley moment). He gave a brief thought to it. Shiro was the authority, the one they’d go to for advice or direction. Pidge was the brains, creating and solving and just knowing everything. Hunk was their other brains slash geniality; the one that thought about how people felt and how to help them. Keith...was their warrior. Their leader. Their strength.

Lance...was…

_ Maybe I don’t have a thing. _

The memory sent a shock to Lance’s brain. He didn’t recall that on purpose. It was like it got shoved in his ear and blurted in his mind like an unwanted ad. Lance blinked hard, trying to get the pain to leave from the back of his eyes. He looked up. Alfor was eyeing him with pleasure.

“You have nothing to offer. Nothing to prove. You’re better off dying here than subjecting your team to have you tail behind them.”

_ That did it. _

Lance surged forward, swinging his sword hard. Alfor blocked,  the clang of metal ringing in the plane. Lance lashed again, Alfor parrying. Lance brought up his sword a third time, Alfor getting ready to counter, but Lance switched it up, bringing his other arm around, punching Alfor straight in the face. Lance’s hand stung from the impact, but it was shortly forgotten, Alfor swinging his sword back at him. Lance lunged and stumbled back, nearly missing the sword by mere centimeters. 

Alfor wiped his face, Lance swelling a bit for that excellent fist work. “Quite sad. How the Red Lion must put up with someone as pathetic as you.”

Lance gritted his teeth. “You can shut up about the Red Lion stuff! This one isn’t even yours! You completely trashed yours putting all those rift creatures in it. It’s hardly a Lion anymore!”

Alfor stood upright, sending a piercing gaze at Lance. “That power will aid me in changing everything. Reality is built on balance. Positive. And negative. Both energies are needed to have a complete universe.”

“And you’re going to mess up ALL universes if you try making your own!”

Alfor lunged, sword flailing wildly. Lance brought up to parry, catching the hits, but being pressed backward. Lance let his arms drop for a split second, a second that Alfor took, and Lance was hit with an uppercut to the chin. His helmet flew off his head, tossed aside, and rolled on the ground away from the battle. 

Lance took a number from Keith’s book, and used the momentum from being hit to swing around, making a circle with his sword and coming to meet Alfor’s. Their blades clashed again, the noise ringing out like the toll of a bell. They pressed one another. Lance could see the absolute hatred in Alfor’s eyes. He tried to emulate his own fierceness, to show he wouldn’t be messed with. Didn’t help that Alfor like liked messing.

“You’ll see it! Soon enough your comrades will leave you in the dust like before. Like my own team did! We Red Paladins are cursed to be abandoned. And you? It will be because you are the most useless link in the chain!”

Alfor pushed hard, making Lance fumble backward. Lance looked up for a tic, and saw Alfor’s leg raise high, then shot forward, kicking Lance straight in the chest. Lance didn’t think there’d be that much force, but he went sailing backward, rolling over himself and bouncing a good twenty feet before he finally bounded to a halt on the ground.

Lance grunted. Everything hurt. His muscles screamed. Now his chest felt like it had a dent in it. And no matter how much he willed the guy to just shut up and fight, Alfor just kept on talking.

“There’s your rightful role. On the ground and flat on your face. Where you will stay and watch others surpass you.”

Lance felt his eyes sting. He told himself it was his Altean powers getting agitated, but even he knew. Alfor’s words  _ did _ sting. Sure, it had been years since he was a hero in space. But even back then, and even being on the farm, for this long, Lance knew that he was so far behind all of his friends. He was more or less a jack-of-all trades-ish guy back in the old days of Voltron, and that was a compliment. Then, he’d spent three years running a farm in solitude, gaining skills he would have scoffed at during his Garrison days (not that he thought farming was a silly profession, just that young Lance had some bigger dreams than being Old McDonald). 

Lance felt more memories dig  into his head. Being told he’d be a cargo pilot at the Garrison. Clone-Shiro yelling at him.  _ Garfle Warfle Snick _ in its entirety, but sped up to a fraction of a second. Sitting at home on Altea when he knew his friends were attending some big gala at the castle. 

Lance stayed on the ground, the memories and emotions surrounding him, making his already tired limbs even weaker. He inched his head up as best he could. 

...But…

What could he do?

He was just Lance…

 

\--

 

Shiro could have used the Garrison fleet, the Atlas, the extra Altean forces, the Blade of Marmora and Galra Republic, and a few more United Galaxies allies. 

But all he had right now was Blue.

Who was of course a fantastic companion and an amazing fighter. Shiro just wished they had a little...extra...backup.

His fight with Hira zipped and zagged, each playing their own game of “gotcha last” with every laser strike. But as they cascaded around the Maltean mothership, more pods and fighters darted out of hangars, trying to pick off the Lions. 

Shiro looked back to the Yellow and Green Lions, Hunk and Pidge still doing their best to protect Black and Red. Hunk would circle around to defend open spots, using the Yellow Lion’s armor to shield Lance and Keith. Pidge meanwhile would fly around, shooting quick green shots at multiple pods. An instant later, wooded vines sprung from their cockpits, enveloping them with vegetation, making them either idle and drift in space, or send them crashing into each other. 

The more they waited, however, the more nervous Shiro grew, their numbers severely outmatched due to two of their teammates being unconscious. 

That, and—

*THUNK*!

—the ever INCREASING annoyance that was Commander Hira and her falcon-fighter, knocking into Shiro every chance she got, proving to be quite the opponent. 

Shiro spun Blue around, gaining a direct shot at Hira’s jet, but she anticipated his shot and dodged upward, missing his ion laser. Shiro watched her spin and climb above, before flipping downward into a spiral, sending hundreds of laser shots his way. Shiro about-faced Blue and flew off, escaping the barrage. 

“Come on. There has to be  _ something _ we can do.” Shiro pleaded with Blue, but also himself. He was usually good with strategy; he used to do it almost every day when he was head of Voltron. He DID it as Captain of the Atlas. But with his teammates divided and in trouble, he was having a hard time coming up with a viable plan.

Blue purred in his mind, consoling his spirits, telling him not to give up. A *beep* on Shiro’s dash made him look to the left at his screen. Schematics of the sonar canon and the power outputs of the ice beam flashed. Shiro questioned why Blue would be showing him both. Then, it hit him like a ton of scaultrite lenses. Shiro smirked. 

“Thanks, Blue.”

Shiro shifted gear, swinging Blue back into the main area of the fray, where most of the Maltean pods floated or flew next to the main ship.

Shiro watched Hira hot on his tail, almost daring her to follow.

 

\--

 

Hira knew she had the battle in the bag. While she was mainly toying with this Blue Lion, she couldn’t help but respect its pilot’s tenacity. Usually her opponents turned tail and ran when they knew they were outmatched, so the change of pace was a nice breath of fresh air.

However, she was a little curious as to why the Lion was going back into the heart of the battle, with debris and broken pods floating and clogging up the space, leaving very little room for maneuverability, especially for a large Lion.

“What are your scheming?” Hira uttered.

 

\--

 

Shiro sped up into the debris field. Shifting his gear, he activated the freeze ray. Blue shot out an icy blast from her jaw, freezing dead pods in an instant, making popsicles out of the Maltean ships. Shiro surged Blue forward further, putting as much distance between him and Hira as possible. Turning around, surveying his work, Shiro cranked his controls back. The sonar cannon came to life on Blue’s back, humming with energy. As it came to full power, Shiro thrust his gears forward, sending out the blast.

Pidge would say since there was no atmosphere, nothing should have happened. Shiro always figured the Lions either defied or had their own laws of science, so he wasn’t too concerned with just how it happened.

The sonar waves rocked the frozen ships, making them vibrate erratically. So much so, that the tension was too much. Hundreds of pods popped and burst from the vibrations, sending shards and poofs of ice everywhere. The space under the Maltean base ship looked like a snow fog, clouding up with no way to see anything. Shiro watched Hira’s pod disappear in the cloud, lost and blinded by the ice.

“Alright, let’s finish this, girl.”

Blue roared, and charged into the ice.

 

\--

 

Hira cursed, the frozen debris fogging up her scanners and screens. She knew flying forward was her best bet, but that meant the possibility of being met with an ambush. So she decided to pull straight up instead, sure that other-reality whelp would never see her coming—

*CHUNK*! 

Hira felt and heard a loud crash on the top of her ship. Looking up, her eyes widened. The Blue Lion had latched on to her fighter.

 

\--

 

Shiro smiled in spite of himself, but immediately flipped back to battle mode, making his next move. He shouted out, putting full force behind his controls, thrusting them forward.

Blue complied, roaring, then clamped down on the wing of Hira’s ship with her jaw. Blue reared back, ripping off the left wing like a wishbone, tossing it aside to drift in space. 

Blue detached itself from the jet, watching it lilt without any more power behind it. Shiro nodded, thrilled it was finally over.

“A good fight,  _ Commander _ .” Shiro made sure to put a little salt in that last word, before turning Blue around to join his friends.

 

\--

 

Hira sat in her cockpit slack jawed. No one...NO ONE… had ever bested her. She was the greatest warrior, hand picked by King Alfor. She wasn’t supposed to lose.

…

King Alfor.

He wouldn’t be pleased with a loss. Surely he would punish her dearly for this. But...he would come. 

Hira hugged her arms, looking out over the battle. Yes, King Alfor would come to get her. Just like the engine room. He would get her and she could prove herself again.

She just had to wait.

 

\--

 

Pidge and Hunk were in a bit of a pickle. 

Shiro approached his friends, Maltean pods zipping around like flies, firing at the Lions. Pidge shot ion laser after laser picking them off. Hunk bull-dozed into groups of fighters to scatter their numbers. But the enemy kept multiplying, more pods coming from the base.

Shiro shot some freeze rays at a pod of pods, giving Hunk some breathing room.

“Whew! Thanks Shiro. Wait, where’s Zippy?”

“She’s done, floating off with a torn wing. But we need to focus here.”

Pidge clawed at a Maltean fighter, tearing it in half. “Our focus is a little split right now!”

Shiro looked to the two out-of-commission Lions. Pidge was right. Having Keith and Lance still unconscious was a liability. Even with the Lions’ particle barriers up, they could still get snatched or pushed deeper into space.

“Come on, guys…” Shiro pleaded. He was getting to the point of the battle where it didn’t matter what the enemy was doing. It didn’t matter how badly their mission was going.

He just wanted to hear their voices.

 

\--

 

Lance felt like a bulldozer could drive on top of him and he wouldn’t feel a thing.

He laid on the ground of the astral plane, more memories of failure and misery swirling in his mind, making his thoughts go black. He wasn’t even aware if Alfor was still standing away from him, over him, or if the King had just disappeared all together.

Until the jerk spoke up again, still sounding far enough away. 

“It’s pointless. You and your team are fighting for nothing. Once you’re taken care of, none of you will matter anymore. The universe will be mine to paint. And I assure you, I will mark you out of the Red Lion’s cockpit.”

_ Again with the Red paladin garbage _ . Lance grunted softly. He tried moving his arm to right himself up, but it wouldn’t budge. His legs felt like jelly and his brain was fried. He could hardly lift his head to look back up at Alfor. 

...But it didn’t matter.

Lance knew he was done. Nothing he could do would change anything. He wasn’t super strong. Or super smart. He wasn’t suave or cool. His Altean powers were janky and not even his own, really. Lance had nothing of his own. Everything had to be given to him. His place at the Garrison. His Lions. His powers. Even winning a stupid bike race. Lance could never get something of his own, better yet, actually keep it. He didn’t have anything and he wasn’t anything. 

So...what was he?

Hopeless? Useless? Everything Alfor said seemed to be true. Lance knew all of those things were at the back of his head. Alfor was just bringing them out. Maybe he’d realized he wasn’t cut out to be a hero again after all. Maybe he  _ was _ the worst Red Paladin in history. Maybe it was finally time to accept the truth. That Lance had nothing to off—

…

…

…

A piercing memory, an arrow in his mind, shot through Lance and sent electricity throughout his body. Lance froze. Focusing on it. Gripping it. So he wouldn’t,  _ couldn’t _ , let it go. 

_ And we’re gonna do it with the Lance that’s the paladin of the Red Lion, the Lance that’s always got my back… _

…

Lance groaned, raising his arm to put underneath himself. He brought his leg up, getting a knee under him. Another thought struck the back of his brain.

_ You have greatness within. _

Lance pushed up on his hands, his biceps wailing from the exertion. He gripped his sword in his hand, the feel and weight of it comforting. He breathed in deep, another memory crashing through.

_ That’s why we bring our sharpshooter! _

He brought another knee up, planting his foot on the ground, finally getting upright.

_ You’re a paragon of leadership Lance _ (Said with love, Lance knew).

_ It’s okay, man. You don’t have to play macho all the time. I’ve seen you in a duckie onesie. _

Lance rose. His legs were shaky, but he stood. Something coursed through him. Something that seemed to drain the fatigue and pain in his muscles. Lance stared down Alfor, feeling his eyes burning.

_...and the Lance who knows exactly who he is, and what he has to offer. _

Lance took a deep breath, rolling back his shoulders. He glared at Alfor, practically daring the guy to make a move. Alfor wore a look of disgruntled disgust, almost confused and insulted as to how Lance could stand back up.

Lance cheekily brushed the dust off his shoulder. 

“You know...I’ve had a real rough few years.”

He took a step forward.

“I’ve put myself down, for not being good enough or being behind. I’ve isolated myself. Heck, I thought it was a crime to let myself be happy. Everything in my life felt like it was going into the pits.”

Lance stepped twice. Alfor actually shifted a shoulder backward.

“And ya know? I’ve asked myself that question tons of times. What am I? What do I offer? I’ve been called sharpshooter. Loverboy. Red Paladin. And you know what I’ve realized?”

Lance squared Alfor. He could feel the growing tension deep in his stomach. New power coursed through him. A faint glow settled on his armor. The disgust on the king’s face twisted even tighter. 

Lance closed his eyes, then looked at him.

“I don’t have to prove jack all to you or anyone. I don’t have to BE anything. I don’t have to BE anyone. I’m just me. And I think “me” has come a long way from where he started. And for everyone else? That seems to be enough. It’s enough for my friends, my teammates. And,” Lance gave Alfor his best, cockiest smirk, “it’s enough for  **_MY_ ** Red Lion.”

Behind Lance, Red roared out loud. Alfor stumbled, shocked to see the Lion defy him, no doubt. He looked back to Lance, eyes looking more crazed and incredulous than before. 

Lance puffed his chest. Three years. Three years it took him to finally wash his hands of the guilt. Of the pain. He realized, what it all boiled down to: he’d never shown everyone what he could really do. He had been a great right hand, but never got a true chance to step up and earn it. He’d had a girlfriend, but didn’t get to be there when it counted. He was a fantastic team player, but always felt left out or left behind.

But, Lance didn’t have to worry about that. 

He knew he was loved for who he was. His friends and family were still always there for him, even when he shut himself away. He was strong enough to still be here, after years of dangerous and deadly space battles. And...even though he lost….even though...Allura still believed in him. After everything. 

Lance was Lance. The team player. The guy who made sure he had everyone’s back. The one who would make sure the job got done. Lance didn’t need a “thing”.

Lance had everything he needed.

Alfor gritted his teeth, his body shaking vigorously. Lance could see small crimson sparks crackle on the King’s armor. The sword in his hand jittered, then he gripped it tight, ceasing it.

Alfor looked up at Lance, spitting his words. “You’re foolish to think you have any strength to stop me! I’ll make sure of it that you are destroyed here with nothing but the stars to mourn you!”

Alfor attacked, rushing Lance and slashing his sword. Lance anticipated the move, and wound his own sword around, clashing it with Alfor’s. The shock sent out another loud ring—

Something shattered. Lance could feel a veil, a curtain, crumble and fall away with the strike. He blinked from the impact, keeping his sword pressed right up against the king’s. While his muscles were still sore, the extra energy gave him a boost to keep fighting. Lance cracked open an eye to get a look at Al—

…

... _ What? _

Lance’s eyes went wide.

Pressing Lance, face twisted with anger and fear, even a little manic, was—

“Keith?”

Keith pushed Lance harder, knocking his sword out of the way, bringing his own up to slash down again. Lance brought his blade up, blocking the blow. The move brought them closer.

“K—Keith! It’s me! It’s Lance!”

Lance heard a deep laugh in the back of his mind. Alfor’s image was gone, but the jerk still had something to say.

_ Don’t bother. I am the master of this plane. He only hears what I allow. Sees what I show him. And he will be your downfall here. _

Keith pivoted and hacked his blade wildly. Lance parried blow for blow. While in the heat of the battle, Lance quickly pulled a Pidge and did some math in his head.

THAT was the familiar feeling from earlier. The righteous anger was coming from Keith. The moves Alfor was using, if Lance could facepalm he would ’cause Alfor’s moves SCREAMED Keith in hindsight. He’d been fighting Keith this whole time, and Alfor rigged it so they both thought they were fighting him. Lance figured his Altean powers may have given him a boost to help break the illusion, or maybe his self-confidence was all he needed to end the charade. Only problem was, Keith was still in it.

“Keith! C’mon man! Wake up! It’s me!”

 

\--

 

Keith pressed harder. Alfor looked like he was slipping up in places, his moves a little sloppier. But each time Keith went for a hit, the king was still able to bounce back.

“Tell me, how much good  _ is _ a Galra in your universe? Are you despicable monsters? Tyrants? Or are you just a poor example?”

Keith jumped back and went for a thrust, Alfor knocking his sword away.

“They can’t be too different. I can see it in your eyes. Nothing but pain and sorrow! You’ll just destroy everything you love. So perish!”

Alfor swung his sword around his head wide, like he was trying to open himself up. Keith wouldn’t take the bait, and instead kept low, swinging his own blade near Alfor’s legs. Alfor quickly changed his stance, blocking Keith’s strike instantly.

Keith pressed hard against the king, the anger and terror in his gut building. 

 

\--

 

Lance realized why he always liked training with Keith. Because he never had to be on the receiving end of an  _ actual _ fight.

Lance pulled up with all his might, getting Keith’s sword away from his legs. The force pushed Keith back a bit, so Lance took the chance to jump back and place some distance between the two. Lance took in some deep breaths, half clearing out the exhaustion, and half composing himself because QUIZNAK HE WAS FIGHTING KEITH! AND HE WAS TRYING TO  _ KILL _ HIM!

Keith rose slowly, still hunched over, breathing hard. He looked up at Lance, wiping the sweat off his brow. His eyes were razors. Black, piercing razors. He wasn’t just mad.

He was furious.

Lance had no idea what to do. Keith couldn’t see or hear him, and was also trying to KILL him. Lance couldn’t stop fighting, but he knew Keith would go all out to win.

Lance...was stuck.

 

\--

 

Hunk was REALLY wishing the Atlas was here to blow things up.

He dodged a set of Maltean pods, turned, and fired at another set. He kept Yellow’s back armor active, mashing and crashing into any fighters he could see. He kinda wished Yellow had some kind of rock-ray, where his Lion could spit out boulders at enemies. ‘Cause like. Pidge had a plant ray, Lance had fire powers, and Shiro had a freeze ray, why couldn’t Hunk spit boulders?

Pidge darted around, shooting more of her plant lasers, immobilizing pods. Shiro would swoop in and fire a freeze ray, halting them for good, then blasted his ion ray to shatter them. For each pod they destroyed, three more poured out of the Maltean base. Their strategy was starting to wear thin.

“If this keeps up, there’ll be too many on us. We either need to get out of here or wake those dorks up!” Pidge launched an ion cannon at an approaching pod.

Shiro chomped on the wing of a fighter. “I don’t think they’ll give us they luxury of breathing room, Pidge.” He looked over to the Maltean base. “There has to be something we can do and quick. They keep pouring out.”

Hunk looked to the same spot on the base. Fighter pods flew out of nooks and crannies on the ship. Following their trail, he could see lines of them make their way to the Lions. However, Hunk noticed a few pods still going to the gaping hole at the bottom of the ship, where the Red Lion had charged in. They were still trying to repair the damage in the hull. 

It was still the perfect opening. But how could they get in and get out quickly enough—

Hunk stopped, the idea coming to him like a freshly connected circuit. 

“Guys, it’s finally time.... Let’s form the worm!”

Despite the increasing violence and destruction around them, Pidge and Shiro deadpanned. 

“Hunk. What the HECK does that mean?!” Pidge wasn’t exactly in the mood for jokes, especially if it wasn’t Lance finally conscious again.

“Remember? Years ago I thought a Lion worm would be a good idea to get away from our old buddy, Sendak? Well, what if we form the worm, or something like it, dive into that hole in the ship and shake it up a little on the inside?”

Shiro fought off a couple of pods that had jumped Blue, picking them off with her tail laser. “How exactly do we do that?”

“I mean, we don’t have to like, latch onto each other. I can lead and spiral through the hole and you guys can follow and wreck it!”

If Shiro and Pidge could side-eye one another, they would’ve.

“Hunk,” the smile on Shiro’s face creeped up his cheeks, “not bad.”

Hunk blushed, smiling in spite of himself.

“But what about the guys?” Pidge turned to the Red and Black Lions, still drifting around one another. 

“We’ll be quick,” Shiro promised. “Their particle barriers should keep. Plus we can annoy the pods to chase us.”

“Alright! Then let’s light that place up! And for once I get to say this.  _ I’LL _ form the head!”

Hunk spun Yellow off charging for the main base. Shiro and Pidge sighed, following after him. Shiro mentally congratulated Hunk letting him have his moment with Yellow.

The Lions sped like a line of light, picking off pods along their way with tail lasers, teasing them to chase the pride. Hunk pushed his thrusters to max, then got ready to jerk his controls.

“Alright, boy. Let’s kick it!”

Hunk jerked, and went for a full spiral, Yellow reaching out his claws and spinning like a top, straight for the hole. Like a drill bit, he crashed into the ship, swerving and tunneling through it like butter. Scaffolds fell. Tubes of rift creatures burst. Wires frayed and were torn apart. The inside of the Maltean ship started to look like the home to a mole.

Right behind Yellow the mechanical tornado, Blue followed, blasting her freeze ray along Hunk’s trail. If a scaffold was falling, it wasn’t anymore. Debris froze in place. Liquid quintessence turned to ice. Green rounded the rear, firing shot after shot of her plant ray. *Pops* later, and vines grew their way around the crevices of the base, snaking and filling spaces with wooden plants.

Yellow burst out of the other side of the ship, his spinning slowing to a halt. Blue and Green emerged from the hole, turning to survey their work.

Small explosions blasted from plenty of places in the hull. Some of the hangars they could see blew out, fighter pods going up in flames. Red emergency beacons flashed as more pods came out, but only to drone around and assess the damage. Smoke billowed around their entry and exit point. Shiro could even see red bits of smoke swim wildly out of the ship, before they dissipated into the vacuum of space. 

Pidge whooped. “Yes! Good thinking, Hunk! I can’t believe that worked!”

“Y~yeah. To~atally.”

Shiro smirked, sure that Hunk would get over his dizziness in a tic or two. 

 

\--

 

While the Malteans didn’t have an employee of the month system, if they did, Renfrin would definitely be fearing for his title.

Troops dashed around the ship trying to activate emergency protocols. Patrol squads received orders to go on the offensive. Scientists attempted to reserve declining quintessence levels in the rift antechamber. Renfrin was about to pop a blood vessel.

“Switch all power to the rear reserves! Siphon as much as you can to the Voltron engine! And do all you can to blast those abominable Lions out of the cosmos!”

Renfrin turned. Looking out over the main window, Alfor still stood in his trance, a hand stretched out, reaching for the two idling Lions. His eyes twitched, an uncomfortable grimace on his face. His arm shook like he was struggling against something. Renfrin gulped hoping the king was more preoccupied with whatever mental predicament he was in, so they could try to fix this mess before he woke up. 

 

\--

 

Hira looked up from her legs and out the window. Their home ship was burning in places. Red electricity sparked from ripped wires. Pods dashed around like flies, confused as to what to do or where to go. It took too long for some of them to realize they could still attack the enemy Lions. Hira scoffed.

“Fools.”

 

\--

 

Their victory would be short lived, as Maltean fighters charged the three Lions.

“Hunk!” Shiro cried.

Hunk complied, activating Yellow’s back armor, putting himself between the oncoming laser fire and the other Lions. A tic later, he dashed back over to Black and Red, covering them as more pods thought the two stationary Lions were more interesting.

Pidge shot a pair of plant rays. “Was there an outcome where drilling a hole in their ship  _ might _ just make them mad?!”

“We’ve stunted their numbers at least. They’ll be working to try and make repairs. But we can’t take too long.” Shiro blasted Blue’s sonic ray, the waves making a group of fighters slow down and wobble, before Pidge blasted them with an ion ray.

Shiro turned Blue to look back at his friends. Hunk switched from ion beam to shoulder shield seamlessly, protecting Lance and Keith. Shiro breathed hard, the anxiety amplifying the longer they stayed unconscious. With all the crazy Altean/Maltean alchemy magic going on, Shiro figured there was something more going on than just a bump to the head to the guys. He only hoped that whatever it was, his boys could get out of it.

“Please...we need you…”

 

\--

 

Lance was running out of moves.

Each time he thought he had an upper hand on Keith, the guy just swung back twice as hard. Lance would go for a thrust, Keith would slip and deflect it. Lance would turn for a kick, and Keith used his arm to block. Lance would duck down and slide out of the way to gain some breathing room, and Keith would be there breathing down his neck with his sword inches away from giving his already short hair a trim. 

There was one thing Lance found just as concerning as the fight. Keith face wasn’t only twisted with anger...it was pained. His brow was arched with guilt and regret. His jaw was set where he was probably two tics from breaking down. His...his cosmic eyes looked murky and dull. Whatever Alfor was putting in Keith’s head was messing with it, probably a little too well. 

Alfor chuckled in the back of Lance’s mind. He cringed, his ear feeling like a worm was squirming in it.

_ What a feeble mind. So concerned with how others think, that he’d prefer to isolate himself than face the pain of others. He’s consumed himself with abandonment. It’s almost fitting how both of you came to be pilots of the Red Lion.  _

Keith swung his blade back far. Lance copied him. They crashed their swords into one another. The loud bell toll rang in Lance’s eardrums and  echoed in the plane.

Lance’s eyes flashed. Images appeared in his mind. They weren’t painful like the memories Alfor showed him, quite the contrary. Lance was filled with overwhelming emotion and drive, and...okay pain, but not his own.

It.

It was Keith.

Lance saw images of Keith, much younger, all alone in the desert shack, clutching what looked like a uniform of some sort. The memory flashed to Keith, watching the news about the Kerberos mission, eyes wide and face expressionless. Then, Keith and the rest of the team, looking at the empty seat of the Black Lion’s cockpit. 

Keith reared his sword again and slammed it against Lance’s, the ring bringing forth more memories in Lance’s mind: Keith freaking out on Thaserix, commanding his friends to fight against Lotor. The odd memory of Lance in Keith’s bedroom, and Keith telling him to not worry about who flies what Lion. Keith wearing his old Blade of Marmora uniform, turning away from the team on the Castle of Lions. Lance could see his expression this time; sullen, sad, and possibly regretful. 

Lance snapped out of it just as Keith went for a swipe to the side of his head. Lance blocked in the nick of time, bringing his sword up, Keith’s inches from his face.

_ It seems what he believes as helping, is removing himself from the picture entirely. Perhaps if he had, your lives might have gone down a more favorable path. _

Lance was REALLY getting sick of Evil Alfor and his Evil dialogue creeping in his skull. Keith swung his blade down, Lance swinging higher and  catching it downward. Another ring sounded.

Lance was in an old Galra fighter. Back when they were fighting in the war. Lance saw Keith, again in his Blades uniform, sitting in the cockpit. Lance could hear Matt’s voice shouting  on the comm. Lance caught the coordinates on the dash. The location and name of the planet on the screen familiar. Keith was speeding up, flying...straight for a Galra battle cruiser. Keith gripped the controls, and shut his eyes tight.

Lance froze. He...he never knew that. Never knew that Keith...almost—

Keith shouted, jumping back, and jabbed his sword forward. Lance perked and dodged to the right, missing the blade by the belt. Lance twisted around to whap Keith with the flat of his blade, but Keith, curse and bless him, was too quick, himself turning to stop Lance’s attack.

Lance pushed hard against Keith’s sword, gritting from the strain. “K—Keith. You...you really think you’re that replaceable? That—that people don’t want you around?”

Keith pivoted, swinging his sword up. Lance intercepted it over his head. He looked right at Keith, who looked as if he was seeing right through Lance. 

“Dude, and I thought  _ I _ was the guy who had to take a step down. Keith, you may have been alone most of your life, but that doesn’t mean that has to  _ be _ your life!”

Keith detached their swords, going for a straightforward slash. Lance caught it dead center, their blades ringing and sparking against one another. Lance saw a glimpse of one more memory. Altea. Back at the farmhouse. Lance shouting at Keith, before finally—

_ Just...just go Keith. I mean it this time. _

Lance’s heart skipped. He felt the guilt on his brow for an instant, before lowering them into a concerned scowl. 

“I get it. I was wallowing. You were trying to give me space. But dude...you were still there. You might think you were being distant, but you have no idea how much that helped.”

Lance pushed harder on Keith. Keith’s own face twisted with strain.

“Yeah, there were times you left. And that part sucked. But, you always came back. No matter how long it took, you  _ always _ came back. You were there for us when it mattered. And I’m not gonna let  _ you _ feel sorry for yourself when that’s all  _ I’ve _ been doing for three years!”

Lance pulled back, and went wild. He thrashed his blade against Keith’s over and over again. He didn’t worry about where it landed (he wasn’t dumb, he knew Keith could block every hit), he just wanted each blow to be quick and random. Keith did his best to keep up, his face getting a little more nervous with each hit. Finally, Lance swung his blade back, and thrusted it down on Keith’s, the swords ringing throughout the plane. They struggled against one another, the metal creaking and flashing from the strain. Lance and Keith looked at each other (Keith still oblivious to who he was fighting, the dork), both with a fierceness and determination in their eyes, neither backing down. 

Lance twitched his arm. His sword twisted around Keith’s. Their blades locked. Lance slid his right leg out, forming his stance. He pulled with everything his muscles had and little extra, not caring if he popped one in half. Keith lost his grip. The sword went flying out of his hands, up in the air, and about twenty feet away. The clatter of metal on the ground echoed throughout the cosmic plane. 

Lance huffed out a couple of ragged breaths. Finally happy he could attempt to get through Keith’s head now that—

Lance’s body reacted on instinct. He flung his sword up, feeling the clang rattle in his blade and arms. He looked down. Keith’s Marmorite sword shook against Lance’s broadsword. The purple glow of the sword looked like magenta in the light of the red plane. Lance grimaced against the strain, looking up to check if Keith—

...Keith…

Keith’s scowl was piercing. Literally. His canines extended into downright fangs in his mouth. His scar looked weirdly fresh, like is was inching up his face. His...his eyes. His usual cosmic eyes were menacing, the whites of them a sickly shade of yellow, and his irises a sharp, shocking violet. 

He...he looked like a Galra.

Lance was so engrossed with Keith’s face, when he really should’ve been keeping track of his feet. In a split tic, Keith stretched and swept Lance’s leg. As Lance slid back, Keith swung his sword up, Lance’s blade flying in the air. Lance flinched, feeling something cold and stinging right above his right eye. It took him a tic to realize that Keith’s blade had swiped so quickly and close, that it nicked his brow. Lance’s hand reacted, cupping his forehead.

Keith spun and kicked him hard in the chest. Lance fell on his back, the air knocked out of his lungs. He didn’t give himself a chance to recover, forgetting his brow and scrambling backward up on his hands. He took one look up, and the point of a sword was staring at him right in the face. His gaze drifted up slowly, meeting Keith’s. 

Lance had never seen Keith look so...deadly. He had always been a fierce fighter. Someone Lance would rather spar with than ever face on the battlefield. But here? Keith must have had one thought on his mind. And Lance was terrified that he was, unknowingly, on the other end of that thought.

Alfor laughed, except now, it sounded like it was echoing in the astral plane.

_ HA ha ha! Pathetic. You’re just as hopeless as I thought. Nothing you do will change anything. No matter what you think, you know exactly how it will all end here! _

Lance couldn’t tell if Alfor was talking to him or to Keith, but it didn’t matter. Keith looked visibly unnerved, his jaw twitching with what Lance could describe as hesitancy on a very loose leash. Keith’s arm shook, as if he wanted nothing more than to bring it down for a...final blow. 

Lance didn’t know what to do. So, he did the only thing he could.

He did what Lance does.

“Keith. I know you can’t hear me. But you KNOW this isn’t you, man. You’re not the guy to just give in when it gets tough. You push through and don’t worry about the stupid stuff. You never let anyone get to you. Please...don’t do it.”

Lance didn’t know what twisted words Alfor made that amazing speech into, but Keith flared his nostrils in a snarl, sending a quick shot of hot terror burning down Lance’s throat. Keith slowly raised his arm, swinging back his sword. Lance noticed, however minutely, subtly...Keith was hesitating.

With one swift motion, Lance surged forward on his feet, as Keith brought his blade down.

 

\--

 

…

…

Keith was not expecting to be embraced by his enemy.

He fell to his knees, perturbed that Alfor would actually jump up and...hug, him? But something wasn't allowing him to move. Keith kept a grip on his sword, but the arms holding him kept it a length away. Also for some reason, Alfor felt much...smaller, than Keith thought he looked. Surely being that tall and wearing that much armor should make the guy dwarf Keith considerably. Keith took in a deep breath through his nose, trying to regain some composure after a battle that taxing—

…

…

…

The veil shattered. 

Keith’s eyes burst wide open. He caught the scent of clean linen. Of freshly washed hair. Of skin touched by a rain shower. The same sent he’d embraced a number of times before. 

He...he smelled—

“L......Lance?”

The arms holding him pushed him back, gripping his shoulders. Keith blinked and looked up. Two crystal blue eyes stared back at him. Small tears started to pool at the corners. The crease in his brow was arched with so much relief, but it was interrupted by a red chip now in the right brow. His smile was wavy, half happy and half close to wailing out loud. The freckles on his cheeks faintly glowed, like a healing light.

Keith’s sword fell out of his hands.

“Keith!” Lance went back in for another hug, gripping as tight as he could. Granted, his armor was digging into his skin, and made it quite awkward to give someone a genuine thanks-for-not-killing-me hug.

Keith stared at the ground, trying to comprehend everything in his mind. “I...you...I was...I almost—“

“Dude, it’s okay.” Lance pulled back again, putting on a winning grin. “Stupid king guy made us think we were fighting each other. Honest to Crow I thought the same thing.”

Keith still looked spacey. Like whatever was in his head just wasn’t adding up quite right. His gaze rose to above Lance’s eyes, Keith’s own widening for an instant, really taking in the cut above it. What he’d done. 

“I...I’m so—“

“Don’t.” Lance held up a finger. Keith blinked innocently in front of it. “That jerk messed with your head and pushed buttons I know for a fact you should never push. You get a pass here, bud. We’re cool.”

Lance clapped Keith’s shoulder, trying to fluff some of Keith’s normal broody nature and calm demeanor back in him. Keith stared at Lance for a few more seconds, drinking in his image. How, despite almost killing him a minute ago, he was laughing and smiling and making jokes about it. Keith felt the corners of his mouth turn up, a quick exhale from his mouth sighing out lighthearted relief. 

“How pathetic.”

Lance and Keith turned. 

Alfor stood ten feet away, sneering at the two of them, his Maltean marks oozing like glow sticks. Not taking their eyes off the enemy, Lance and Keith helped one another up, gripping each other until they both stood upright. They returned Alfor’s glare twofold.

Alfor cocked his head to the side, like he was debating if Lance and Keith were even worth the trouble. “Both of you. Absolutely pathetic. No matter how much you struggle, you’re only putting off the inevitable. I WILL succeed. And you two will perish here.”

While Keith glowered with flames in his eyes, Lance picked the sarcastic route, now that he wasn’t on the other end of Keith’s swordplay. “See, that’s the thing there, kingy. This is what we do. We beat the bad guy’s butt, and save the universe. Kind of in the job title.”

Alfor pursed his lips like he ate a sour grape (well, more sour, the guy didn’t smile as it was). “That’s if you can make it out of here alive. I for one, will be taking your power of Oriande with me!”

Alfor shot his hand out. Red lightning crackled in the air. A spear of light shot forward, directly aimed at—

“Lance!”

Keith sounded so far away.

Lance flinched, bracing for the impact of being shocked. He figured it would feel just like when he saved Allura: painful and probably not gonna wake up after. Lance waited for it, the excruciating pain followed by darkness…

…

...Lance didn’t feel the pain, and the only darkness he saw was coming from his shut eyes. Well, kinda dark. Through his lids he saw a red glow. His skin felt warm, like he was standing in front of a furnace. He cracked one eye open just a tad.

Keith stood between him and Alfor, holding up his hands in protection. The weird part about it was the dancing flames all around Keith, blocking and fizzling out the lightning. While Lance knew fire was already a form of light, these flames distinctly glowed. As if they had an overlay effect. 

Lance looked through the flames, seeing Alfor thoroughly shaken, still trying to send out more lighting, but losing steam. 

Lance looked back to Keith. Not only did the fire make him glow, the same veiled overlay wrapped around him too. Lance could only see his back, but it was stiff, and determined not to move for anything.

Alfor ceased his lightning, Keith’s flames slowly going out after that. Keith looked to his hands, a little...a LOT unsure as to what just happened. 

Lance eyed Keith’s hands. “...Taking the ‘I’ve got firepower’ to a new level, huh?”

Alfor grunted, sputtering out his words, “How?! What is this power?!”

While, again, not wanting to compare himself to the king, Lance had the same question. But, in a moment of sheer genius, he supplied his own answer. 

“You...you went to Oriande too.”

Keith looked up at Lance, the cogs clicking into place in his own brain. “But...but I’m not—“

Keith was going to say  _ not Altean _ , also implying that he wasn’t given any Altean powers like Allura gave to Lance. But, his memory of Oriande came crashing back, and his time there on the astral plane. 

_ I suppose you’re partially worthy. At least worthy enough as a protector. A guardian. Perhaps there’s hope for your mission after all.” _

The words raced through Keith’s mind _.  _ He didn’t just face Lotor back on Oriande. Lotor gave him some power. Something to make sure their mission was a success.

And Keith was going to use it. 

Keith raised up his hands again, bringing forth as many feelings of rage and triumph as he could. Fire exploded around him, the flames lapping the ground and rushing over to Alfor. The king raised his own hands, blocking with his red electricity.

Lance raised his brows, impressed with Keith’s new ability, and a little, sorta, also impressed with how hot—ER COOL, cool, he looked while doing it. 

“Lance, hurry up!”

Lance shook his head and planted his eyes on Keith, who in turn was gritting against the pressure of trying to break through Alfor’s defense.

“I’ll keep him busy, you finish it, and let’s get out of here.”

Keith looked at him. His eyes were fierce and joyful all at once. Lance could see the flames reflect in them, turning his irises into glowing coals.

Lance stood stunned for a tic, a little in awe that it was Keith, the hero, telling him to be the one to deliver the end of the fight. Lance grinned and nodded. He turned, running in an arc around the path of the flames, and straight for Alfor.

Alfor blinked in surprise, raising his right hand in Lance’s direction, shooting a bolt of lightning. Lance responded by bringing his arms up defensively over his chest. Blue bolts intercepted the red ones, sparking violet for an instant before fizzling out. Lance continued to run towards him. Alfor raised his hand again, but a blast of fire ripped in between him and Lance. Alfor whipped his head around, his Maltean marks looking as though he was bearing fangs at Keith. 

“You’re not  _ touching _ him.” (Even Lance felt the goosebumps shiver down his back from the gravelly bass in Keith’s voice). Keith rolled both of his arms back and swung them forward, fire crashing its way toward the king. Alfor brought his hands up instinctively, blocking the flames with an electric barrier.

Lance was kinda running on fumes.

While Keith told him to finish it, Lance had no real idea what the heck that meant. Shoot him with lightning? Punch him epically?...Shoot him with lightning?

A whisper wisped its way into the back of his mind. Lance looked at Alfor, piecing together what the whisper was telling him. Lance creased his brow and nodded, a small tear pooling at his eye, as he thanked the whisper for...her, help.

Lance was five feet from Alfor, who turned from his flamey onslaught, and pointed a hand down at Lance. Lance ducked low, curving his fist back, electricity coursing through it, and lunged up, landing a punch in the center of Alfor’s armor.

Lance concentrated. He pulled from his own strength, the astral plane, the Red Lion, and even just being in the sheer vicinity of Keith, for energy. Lance figured, if Alfor could play crazy mind games here, why couldn’t he?

Lance thought of every memory, every flashback he saw about Alfor’s life. His old friends, his old curiosity and wonder, and the early days of being with his wife and daughter. He thought of the king’s downfall, and how obsessed he’d become over the rift and quintessence and Voltron. He remembered all how Alfor destroyed his own life around him, and the harmful lengths he’d gone to try and rectify them. Lance pooled all of those memories together, and willed them from his mind, down to his hand, and straight to Alfor.

“Let’s see how you like your own cooking.”

And Lance shoved the metaphorical spoon into Alfor’s mouth.

The king screamed. A howling, wretched, and raspy scream. Lance felt his anguish and despair, the memories overloading his mind. Before, Lance felt cutoff from the memories, being just an onlooker. Now, he was the instigator, forcing Alfor to not only recall his past mistakes, but to acknowledge them. Which apparently, must be EXCRUCIATINGLY painful, as his wails echoed in the plane. 

Alfor began to glow. Starting as a dull burgundy, the light expanded and grew in waves. Rings of red lashed out from his center, the force pushing Lance’s chest back. The waves grew brighter and brighter, until a solid white wave launched Lance backward. 

Lance flew across the plane, his mind going to how hard the ground was going to hurt, until, it didn’t. Lance felt himself be caught, (still slightly uncomfortably) and his landing softened. He grunted, lifting himself up and off of—he connected the dots.

“Keith!”

Keith rubbed the back of his head, a little disoriented from the fall. “You—you okay?”

Lance nodded. “Yeah.” He was about to smile, before he saw Keith’s attention pass to look over him. Lance followed Keith’s gaze, back over to the screaming and jerking.

Alfor’s head had flung back. His arms were wide and hands clutching air. The marks of his cheeks were as bright as car dealership lamps. The light whipping around him brightened, practically consuming him in it. 

Lance frowned at him. Whatever pain Alfor was going through, he deserved. Not in the, he-should-get-hurt sort of way, but the he-needs-to-feel-exactly-what-he-caused, way. Alfor thought he’d been doing the right thing this entire time. Lance wanted to show him how wrong he was. 

The light enveloped Alfor, his screams dying in it. The whiteness creeped at the borders of the astral plane, erasing the stars, the moon, blowing them all out. Lance and Keith looked behind themselves. Red was staring at them both, before disappearing behind the light.

They looked at one another, frantic, eyes wide. An impulse. An instinct. Lance reached out and grabbed Keith’s arm in a vise grip. Lance was partially shocked and extremely relieved that Keith did the same. The waves of light whipped around them, blowing their hair. The brightness made Lance’s marks shine.

“Lance…” Keith’s voice echoed and faded as he was shadowed by the light.

Lance felt Keith’s grip disappear from his arm. Lance’s own hand grasped air, Keith disappearing from his own clutch.

“Keith!”

Lance was blinded by the light.

And then.

It was black.

 

\--

 

Alfor gasped. Sweat built at his brow. He collapsed to his hands and knees, breathing deeply and wetly. His brain rattled in his skull, the memories still fresh and stinging in his mind . He put one hand to his face, composing himself. Movement to his right made him grimace.

“M—my Lord!” Renfrin stumbled to his master, rattled himself from watching his the king fall (but also from his waking up because now he’d have to explain the mess of the battlefield outside). 

Renfrin crouched to help his king, but Alfor batted him away, throwing in some red shocks for good measure. 

“Get off of me!” Alfor swayed as he rose, feeling his energy depleted from his fight with those... _ ugh _ ...children. Granted, they were both children blessed with Oriande’s power of quintessence. 

Which meant Alfor had an opening to end everything, and then, begin everything.

“Prepare my vessel. It’s time I settled this. We are going to change the universe here, and now.”

Alfor turned and stomped off, Maltean troops watching cautiously as he strode to the door. Renfrin dashed after him, albeit hesitantly.

“But—but sire! The engine room has been obliterated! Our power reserves are only enough to keep the ship running on fumes. We would only have enough energy to—“

“I said,  _ prepare it,  _ Renfrin. Or should I find someone who will, and then blast you into another reality with it?”

Renfrin gulped, then saluted. He turned to a group of subordinates at their stations. “Begin detachment protocols! Send all quintessence back up to our main engines for compensation! Siphon off the remaining power in the connectors for the king to use!”

Alfor exited the bridge doors, making his way toward the engine room.

Toward the tool he was going to use to end those  _ paladins _ of Voltron. 

 

\--

 

Lance woke slowly. His back was sore. Although, he felt mildly comfy, sitting down in a seat. 

He pinched his eyes together, opening them a crack, the light from outside forming shapes. He heard muffled shouts and screams in his ear.

“Get those five on the left!”

“I’ve got targets locked for that flank there! Cover for me!”

“Give me an opening! I’ll dive in and shake them up!”

Lance groaned. He sat up straighter, lolling his head forward. His mind felt groggy, like he’d just been in the deepest sleep with the weirdest dream—

No.

Not a dream.

Lance eyes shot wide open.

He gasped out loud, rattled breaths echoing in Red’s cockpit. Lance looked around, gaining his bearings. He was back in Red. He was wearing his helmet again. Outside the window, a fire fight was playing out. Maltean pods swam around erratically in space. The Maltean base had red lights blinking in alert. Smoke was billowing out of the ship and dissipating in space. The best sight was three Lions playing the offensive against the enemy.

“Guys!” Lance called out. 

Three over the top gasps and sighs of relief sounded in his comm.

“LANCE! Oh buddy, it’s SO good to hear your voice!”

“Lance, when all of this is over, I’m going to KILL you for making us so worried you little—“

“Lance, are you okay? Are you hurt?”

Lance gripped his controls and rolled his arms. “I’m fine. Had a little mental chit chat with King Krazy. But I’m good now.” He cocked his controls into gear—

...And nothing happened.

“What?”

Lance jerked his controls back and forth over and over again, but Red was dark. The Lion’s power was still shut off.

“Lance,” Shiro’s nerves came back on, “what’s wrong?”

“Red’s got no power! He’s silent. Maybe he’s still recovering from the astral plane.”

“From the WHAT?!”

Lance was about to answer Shiro, before his mind shifted gears completely in reverse. His eyes went straight forward.

“Keith.”

Lance looked out his window. Floating about a hundred yards away was the Black Lion, in the same boat of dangling in space, unmoving.

“Keith! You awake?! Say something!”

No answer.

Lance’s anxiety didn’t creep. It shot up his throat like Hunk’s indigestion. He tried Red’s controls again, but nothing was waking up his Lion.

Then it got worse.

A flash lit up their cockpits. A bright light shone from the Maltean base. Lance squinted, bringing his eyes up to try and get a look at it.

...Something...emerged from the hole in the hull. It’s figure cast a shadow in the light. A being with jagged features floated in the hole. 

It flew out, and Lance gasped.

He had only seen its head earlier, but the full picture was just as horrible. It’s body was black and red, either crudely painted, or dyed that way from years of being infused with rift creatures. The limbs stretched into mangled beasts, halfway between a Lion and a lizard, sharp fangs stretching over their snouts, their eyes red and sharp. It’s face had the same eyes, and red marks clawed its face like bloody tears. It’s crown was pointed, like a wrapping of thorns. Behind it, Lance noticed its wings folded in on each other, black as night and barbed like a bat’s.

Eviltron made Lance’s heart stop.

Shiro gawked for a moment, before realizing they needed to act. “Everyone! Keep the guys protected! We’re not letting that thing anywhere near them.”

Shiro punched Blue’s thrusters. 

“Shiro, wait!” But Pidge knew it was useless.

Shiro shot forward. He activated the ion cannon, the beam surging out of Blue’s mouth. Eviltron rolled its shoulder back, missing the beam by hairs. Shiro gritted, then shifted his approach. He launched to the side, using Blue’s speed and maneuverability to his advantage, trying to get in a surprise shot.

Eviltron brought up its arm. The beast head opened its jaw, and fired a red hot ion beam directly at Blue.

Shiro shouted, the power coursing through his Lion and himself. He felt the same ripping as before, the poison-like power engulfing his Lion.

The beam died and Blue floated, motionless.

“Shiro!” Pidge, Lance, and Hunk all shouted.

Eviltron turned, looking directly at the other Lions.

“Hunk! You game?!”

“Oh, you know it, Pidge!”

“Guys! Wait!”

But they shot forward. Pidge launched her own ion cannon while Hunk began Yellow’s spinning tackle. Eviltron stayed perfectly still, first bringing up a single arm to block Green’s attacked, then swatted Yellow away like he was a fly, sending the Lion careening right into Blue. Eviltron brought its hand up again, firing a beam directly at the Green Lion. Lance heard Pidge’s shouts as he watched Green go still.

“No!”

Eviltron lowered its hand, then raised its wings. The bot flew forward like a raptor. 

Lance shifted his gears over and over again.

“Come ON Red, WAKE UP!”

Eviltron’s approach took both tics and years. It burst forward, getting closer and closer to—

It was drifting to the right, towards—

“No, Keith!”

Eviltron’s path was headed straight for the Black Lion. Lance watched in terror, anticipating another blast directly on Keith. A faint red glow surrounded Eviltron, as it was only yards away—

Eviltron phased directly through the Black Lion, passing through it like a ghost.

Lance blinked, baffled by what he saw. As soon as the bot was through, Eviltron turned and shot back to the Maltean ship, leaving both Lions in the space dust.

Lance stayed silent as groans echoed in his ears. His teammates were alright, thank goodness, but his mind was still a little preoccupied.

Hunk rubbed his head. “Ughhh...sorry Shiro.”

“It’s—it’s alright Hunk.”

Pidge rolled her head forward. “That was not pleasant.” She looked out her window, following Eviltron’s trail. “Where’s he going?”

Lance didn’t understand. Why would Alfor bring out his ultimate playing card, only to just go ghost on the Black Lion and leave? Lance figured the guy must be furious and vengeful. So why would he just go through Black—

Lance froze. Time stopped. His heart sank like an anvil in water. His voice was small.

“...he took Keith.”

Lance looked up, seeing how determined Eviltron was to get back to the ship.

“ **HE TOOK KEITH** !” 

The team’s eyes shot to Eviltron, each one of their hearts filling with absolute dread. Pidge tried her controls, but Green was still sparking. Hunk heard Yellow’s joints groan, trying to move again. Shiro wanted nothing more than for Blue to come on.

Lance watched in horror, practically feeling Keith’s presence get further and further away.

 

\--

 

Alfor’s knuckles were white gripping his controls. His face was a plaster of stone, sculpted with absolute abhorrence that was flaring his nostrils. 

He looked behind him. The Paladin...the Galra brat in red armor, laid on the floor of the cockpit, unconscious. Alfor snuffed out a disgusted breath, knowing he wouldn’t have to be in this boy’s presence for much longer. He turned forward and typed in some coordinates, activating his com.

“Renfrin, begin protocols for a jump. We are distancing ourselves from these menaces.”

“Yes, sire.”

Alfor blasted his thrusters, returning to the Maltean base.

 

\--

 

Hira watched her king pass right through the Black Lion. The sheer skill and power behind him was phenomenal. She saw as he turned, flying only a few leagues away from her own ship. Hira placed her hands on the glass, her king getting closer to—

Alfor passed Hira’s ship over.

Hira gasped, then pounded on her glass.

“My Lord! MY LORD!”

Hira knew her comm was still working. She shouted and shouted, hoping someone could hear her. Someone who could tell the King she was still there. But Alfor didn’t turn around. She watched as working pods returned to the ship. She sat slack jawed at the glow in space that signaled the beginning sequence of a jump.

Hira slammed her fists against the window a final time, letting them slip down. She looked to the floor, her marks no longer the only things on her cheeks.

 

\--

 

Pidge slammed her fists on Green’s controls, willing her Lion to wake. But Green was still out of it, her energy depleted after a vicious attack like that. Pidge looked up, and gasped.

Out her window, on the other side of the Maltean ship, a glowing circle flashed and opened in space. It’s cerulean rings rotated around a shifting and cascading space. Lights blinked and sparked on the inside. And the Maltean ship had a trajectory aimed right for it.

“They’re opening a portal! They’re going to make a jump!”

Three more heads perked, looking out their windows. The Maltean ship approached the portal, its top spires entering and disappearing behind the light.

“No,” Shiro grumbled. “No!”

Blue’s lights flashed on. Shiro jumped in shock, but then gripped his controls, and practically broke them, punching forward.

Blue shot off like a bullet, the Maltean base halfway through the portal. He was only fifty yards away—

Red lasers fired from the ballistas on the ship, cutting Shiro’s path. Blue screeched to a halt, zooming back and forth, trying to find an opening. 

“No!”

The lasers ceased as the ship vanished behind the portal. A tic later, and the circle burst, the light flashing, and the portal was gone. 

The paladins were still. There was an unnatural silence out in space, but a deafening ringing sounding in all of their ears. Pidge looked where the portal had been, tears pooling at her eyes. Hunk looked at the ground, dumbfounded by how easy they’d been picked off. Shiro gripped his controls, then looked out over to the remaining two Lions.

Lance’s eyes hadn’t left the spot of the portal. His mouth was small. His eyes were wide. His head was empty. Slowly, carefully, his eyes and head lowered. His gaze travelled almost instinctively, not even realizing where it was going. It stopped, and he caught himself staring at the Black Lion.

After so long, a single, quiet, piercing thought entered Lance’s mind.

  
  
  


“...Keith.”

  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Raise your hand if I broke you. Don't worry my hand is up to.  
> The LONG awaited episode is finally out, and with enough angst to fill a hot air balloon. So the big question is: WHAT NEXT???  
> Again, hoelko for twitter and tumblr, and hoelko_doods for instagram. Check them all out for the episode posters!


	12. Lionheart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is in jeopardy. Lance has to beat the clock. Shiro makes a deal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's getting to the point where I really don't have anything to say here. So I'll just say.  
> Enjoy.

The Atlas felt like it had been silent for quintants, when it had only been maybe half of one.

Veronica kept busy at her station, running scans of all their systems, battle, maneuvers, and energy reserves. So that she’d know, for sure, they’d be ready once they got back. Curtis bounced his leg, gripping at his pants. No matter how optimistic he’d been, the nagging fear at the back of his mind wouldn’t allow him to take a breath. Sam went over file after file of the Maltean portal data they’d collected, trying to see if there was a way to duplicate the process of opening one without Voltron. Slav sat and contemplated, hoping at least ONE of the paladins remembered to put on their shower clean deodorant, knowing that one preparation of their pits could be the difference between life or death.

Down in the hangars, the MFEs sat huddled around one another on the floor. Rizavi was in a pout, telling herself over and over that Voltron would be back any second in a giant explosion of glory. Griffin’s eyes were shut, one of his brows twitching, absolutely NOT thinking of every possible worst-case scenario that could happen. Kincade looked at his phone, a picture of all of them in the Atlas rec room, gawking at a blushing Lance. Leifsdottir had her tablet out, sketching Voltron with a giant “Victory!” banner over its head.

At the bridge, Coran gripped the dashboard tight, looking out into space. His mind had ten-thousand years of thoughts pass through them. He felt as though he failed his people all over again. He knew he should be doing something more productive. _Something_ to help. But all he could do was stare.

His friends were gone, in one of the worst positions they could be in. And he had no way to be their back up. Coran was always the back up. In the Castle of Lions. In the Altas. He was always the one to swoop in and let the paladins breathe for a tic before turning the battle around. 

Coran prayed. He prayed so hard for his team to come back. For _ALL_ of them to come back.

“Allura, I don’t know if you can hear me. And I don’t know if you even can…but watch over them. Keep them safe.”

A twinkle in space turned a star bright pink.

 

\--

 

Lance was nothing more than a sponge, absorbing everything around him, reacting to nothing.

The rest of his team panicked in his ears. While Red kept still, Yellow paced back and forth, Green dipped and darted whenever Pidge would try to rationalize something, and Blue floated to and fro.

“This is bad. This is very very very very very very very very VERY bad. Just HOW are we supposed to do anything now—“

“Hunk, could you PLEASE calm down?!”

“Uhhh, Pidge? HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DO THAT?! We just lost Keith. The Malteans took him and jumped to who knows WHAT other universe. And we have NO way of following them ‘cause we can’t form Voltron without him. We’re stranded in a universe with evil Alteans, and no Altas to help us. I THINK MY PANIC IS JUSTIFIED!”

“Hunk, please.”

Shiro was just as panicked, but tried hard not to show it. Despite not being the head anymore, he was still the oldest and had the most seniority. He was responsible for all of them. And even more personally: he was responsible for his little brother, who just got kidnapped. Shiro thought of everything he’d done over the years to keep that restless knucklehead safe, only for him to wind up being snatched like a game of jacks. Shiro shut his eyes, for the tenth time, wondering what the heck they could do.

Lance heard everything, but his eyes were still glued to the Black Lion. He’d done it again. He had someone so important to him slip from his grip, and there was nothing he could have done to stop it. Compounding on top of that, Lance remembered what the first time was like. Allura had _chosen_ to leave and save the universe. But Keith had been taken for some stupid, evil purpose. 

The fire in Lance’s stomach started to dim, the protective hand around it gone.

 

\--

 

Keith’s arms and knees felt sore as he woke up.

He grunted, opening his eyes. Dull red lights glowed around him. The commotion of clicking buttons and beeping signals filled his ears. His vision focused, and he saw the bridge of a ship. He noticed a large console with bright lights and screens. Behind that was a large window that opened to space. Stars moved by outside, slowing as the ship lost momentum. 

Keith tried moving, but his arms felt locked behind him. He looked back. His wrists were raised in a pair of mechanical shackles, both hooked up to a large panel of tubes and lights. He looked to the ground, noticing the ache in his legs was coming from the fact that he was kneeling. 

Keith tried yanking on his restraints again, the shackles not moving an inch. He gasped a couple of breaths, half exhausted and half panicked.

“Don’t bother.”

Keith’s eyes darted up. 

Standing to the side, Alfor was looking back at him, the king’s body faced towards the window. Keith scowled at him, Alfor just quirked his lip with distaste.

“While I would much rather throw you out of an airlock with a target on your back from _my_ Voltron, you do have some use to me. Unlike that other whelp, you seem to have a more malleable spirit. One I’m sure I can break.”

Keith lowered his brow. He was a little embarrassed that he’d been so easy to manipulate on the astral plane. Appalled, that he didn’t realize he’d been fighting Lance the entire time (looking back on it, he realized only Lance would be that erratic and wild in a fight). He steeled his gaze, certain not to let Alfor get in his head again.

Alfor squinted. “Whether I like it or not, you seem to have been blessed by Oriande as well. There is true value in that kind of power.”

Keith’s eye twitched slightly. He honestly had no idea where that surge of energy had come from. One second, Lance was in trouble. The next, he was shooting fireballs out of his fingers. Keith recalled the astral plane on Oriande. Lotor had called him a protector. Guess that meant the guy needed Keith to have a little extra boost to do the job right. 

Alfor raised his hand and gripped his fist. “Whatever that whelp did to me has shorted out my abilities. But,” he said as he turned, “I can siphon off more with the power bank in front of me.”

Keith’s eyes raised in confusion, then split open like a popped kernel. Pain and electricity ripped through his body. He felt his scream rise in his throat, but he could hardly hear it over the crackling energy. His mind couldn’t even focus on how he felt, but something was tearing into his very being, extracting his strength and leaving him feeling drained. As soon as it started, it was over, the shocks cut off. Keith’s head fell like a bobble, hanging toward his chest. His hands went limp in his cuffs.

Alfor looked at a screen on the console. A gauge increased, considerably, but still not enough. He turned.

“Renfrin, continue to monitor a gradual drain of quintessence from this one,” he turned back to Keith, giving him a stink eye. “I’d be more than pleased to see a slow and painful demise from a Galra mutt.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Alfor stepped towards the edge of the console, taking his place to lead at the bridge.

Keith let out some rattled and labored breaths. His vision blurred. His body twitched with residual shocks. Sweat dripped down his face and soaked into his helmet. His chest was hot and cold at the same time. His mind felt like it was fading. 

But, he gripped on to one thought. One thing that, despite how hopeless his situation, was a light in the dark.

_At least it wasn’t—_

Another round of shocks sparked through Keith, his screams ignored by all the Malteans on deck.

 

\--

 

“What about tracking them? They still have Eviltron! Maybe we can follow their quintessence—“

“Hunk, even if we _could_ follow them in this universe, it doesn’t help if we can’t GET to another one. Voltron combined is the only thing that can.”

“We still have all the Lions together, Pidge. Is there no way to pool their energy together?”

Lance wanted everything his friends said to be true, but even he knew it was impossible. Pidge was right. If the Malteans had jumped to another universe, only Voltron could create the opening. A pilot short made that a difficult venture. Lance kept feeling the pull in his gut get farther and farther away…

…

... _Wait…_

Pidge loaded up every screen she could. Footage from the battle. Data from the quintessence reads. Video from the Malteans’ escape. She clawed through every detail, trying to search for _something_ she could use to find the enemy, to find Keith.

She watched a clip of the Maltean base escape into the portal. She was impressed by its size, since it had to fit an entire fleet and army in it all at once. She looked around it’s borders, blue light coming off of the Teleduv—

…

Blue light.

 _Teleduv_.

Pidge’s hands swept her keyboard, running scans and levels of energy output from the ship. She closed her screens and looked out her window—

To a perfect and pristine area of space.

“They didn’t jump universes! That was a Teleduv portal! They’ve only traveled across space!”

Hunk shook his head like a mini hurricane. “HABASABALSHA—WHAT?!”

“Talk to me Pidge, what do you mean?”

Pidge kept her words crystal clear so Shiro could follow. “The portal they just used had blue light like a Teleduv, not red like their reality jumps. Plus, the energy output is significantly weaker than the invasion on Altea. Not only that,” Pidge zoomed in on the spot of the portal, and sent the video to each of the other Lions, ”the space isn’t distorted like when they reality jump. It’s normal. They must have lost too much power to escape to another universe.”

Hunk put the dots together. “So that means Keith is here! Can we track him?!”

Pidge punched in a few codes, grimacing with her results. “His suit is so far away that I can barely get a signal on it. All I can tell is a vague direction. On top of the fact that I’m pretty sure the Maltean ship is moving.”

Shiro gritted his teeth. “We can’t just sit here and wait!”

“I KNOW that Shiro, but how they heck are we supposed to get to him without our own Teleduv?!”

“We gotta think of SOMETHING!” Hunk added.

Lance heard their shouts echo in his mind, but his thoughts focused on other things. Well, just one thing, really.

Keith was still in their reality. Lance could feel it in his gut. But he was so far away and getting further that, even if they left now at full speed, they’d be too late. Keith would be long gone and Alfor would make his new reality and pretty much the entire multiverse could be destroyed. 

Lance needed a miracle.

A roar echoed in Lance’s mind.

He looked outside.

Staring straight back at him, eyes glowing a bright gold, it’s power finally back, was the Black Lion. 

Lance’s face went slack. He heard a distinct voice in the absolute quiet. An image of what to do. A chord pulled taught, and he understood.

Lance catapulted out of his seat and raced to the back of Red’s cockpit.

Across the way, Pidge slammed her dash. “No, Hunk! Forming the worm WON’T make us faster! It’ll just make us a worm!”

“But I could use Yellow’s spin? I mean he gets a little boost from that. It’s not like we have any other--why is Lance flying out in space?”

Shiro and Pidge turned their Lions. Sure enough, Lance was outside of Red, flying in space, towards the Black Lion. 

Shiro activated his remote comm to Lance’s helmet. “Lance! What are you doing?!”

 Lance slammed into Black’s head. A tic later, the escape hatch opened up, allowing him in. He was silent for a moment before he answered. “...Something.”

Pidge raised her brow. “And do you mind telling us what that is?”

Lance landed in the cockpit. Standing, he scrambled over to the seat. “It beats sitting around waiting for something to happen.”

“Uhh, Lance, not to point out the obvious, but, you’re the Red paladin. Keith is the Black Lion’s paladin. What do you expect to do?”

Lance didn’t know. He just knew, in his gut, something was up. The weirdest thing, it wasn’t even the Altean alchemy powers talking. What he felt in his center was more primal. More natural. Just...it felt _right_.

Lance reached out and gripped the controls. The Black Lion was still relatively quiet, despite its insistence earlier. Lance had a second of dread. What if this was a joke? He’d tried to pilot the Black Lion before, and it had rejected him and chose Keith. How could he compare to someone so—

Lance shook his head, gripping the levers harder. He closed his eyes and  concentrated. Focused. He made his thoughts perfectly clear.

“I know I’m no leader. And that you have some pretty high standards. But I know we both want the same thing. Please...help me now...help me get him back…”

Lance’s voice cracked on the last word. His eyes stung. His hands shook on the gears. All he wanted was for the Black Lion to know how desperate he was, and how he’d be willing to do _anything_ to get Keith back. 

Fortunately, he was heard.

Indigo lights flickered on. Whines and sirens whirred. The main window screen opened up to reveal the infinite sea of space. The gears in Lance’s hand shifted slightly, unlocking and becoming movable.

Lance’s heart soared.

“Th—thank you. Now let’s get moving!”

Lance punched his thrusters and Black shot off like a comet.

The speed wasn’t anything he’d ever experienced with Red. Everything else tore away, to where it was just Lance and Black flying through space. He was pretty sure the naked eye would only see a blur go by.

The team he left in the dust wasn’t as impressed.

“LANCE! What’re you doing?!” Pidge’s own anxiety was getting fed up with the lack of planning. She knew she couldn’t catch up, but swore to add a second wallop to Lance’s head for making her worry twice. She watched him *nyoom* in a purple light and out of sight. 

“Oo—kay. So Lance just ditched us. We won’t be able to catch up, and we still have a Lion that’s paladin-less. Anyone got any bright ideas?”

Shiro frowned, wishing he could answer Hunk. Was it really reckless of Lance to go off on his own? Yes. Would Shiro have done the same thing? Yes? Did they still have to worry about leaving a Lion behind or slowing them down trying to bring it along? Double yes. All of Shiro’s plans went down the drain as soon as he tried cooking them up. 

He looked out over space. The Red Lion floated, limp. Debris from the battle bounced off of it, bits of pod wings bumping into one another and out into the void. Destroyed fighters smacked into smashed parts and broke.

Something caught Shiro’s eye behind Red. Floating more calmly, the tear in the wing still sparking, was the falcon fighter.

Hira’s ship still had power.

 

\--

 

Lance had the entire universe in his fingers.

The buzz he felt from the Black Lion’s power made his heart jitter. The Lion was a tank, a jet, a stronghold, all in one. He realized why it was so particular about its pilot; it had to be someone who could accept that kind of power, but be humble enough to almost reject it. To not get overwhelmed or consumed by it. To be the decisive head.

And Lance ignored the power completely. Or at least, he didn’t care. He was only using it because it was the closest chance he was going to get to save Keith. Which thankfully, the Black Lion offered its sentiments, pushing itself to the limit. Lance could sense the Black Lion giving every drop of energy into flying faster and faster. Lance hoped they could make it.

“Yeah, c’mon! Keep going!”

He punched his controls again, and Black got another boost, blasting off in a stream of light.

 

\--

 

This was a day that would be remembered for deca-phoebs, he was sure of it.

Alfor looked out over the expanse of galaxy they’d landed in. Stars twinkled lightyears away. Cosmic clouds of a million colors danced in front of his ship. His radar picked up multiple planets in the star system.

It didn’t matter.

They didn’t matter.

Alfor brought up the logs of the quintessence reserves they had left. The main reactors had leaked due to the alternate Voltron’s attack, but still had a substantial amount. He checked on the energy supplies from the rift entities. With so many in the castle, they could amplify whatever quintessence he pumped into them. The last thing he looked at was the gauge of quintessence coming from the wailing boy behind him. 

Alfor watched as the gauge filled in increments, making sure to get the maximum amount from the boy. If he expired too quickly, he could lose out on a good deal of power. That, and with the fact that it was Oriande’s blessing he was collecting, Alfor could use that power to exponentially increase all of the quintessence on the ship.

He was so close.

Alfor looked back, a smug sneer lining his viper lips.

“I find it fitting. A Galra ruined my life and plans. And now one will be the catalyst in renewing them. You should be honored.”

Keith was sick.

He was a toothpaste tube getting squeezed out. He was nauseous. He was tired. His eyes rattled in his skull. His head was too heavy to make the attempt, but he brought his eyes up to meet Alfor’s. Keith gave the king the most disgusted glare he could, which, he could, as his entire body was imploding in on itself. 

Alfor pursed his lips and turned, pressing a button. A stream of electricity shot through Keith, his screams echoing on the bridge.

 

\--

 

Shiro took a deep breath, having no clue why he was doing this, but he was doing it.

As Pidge and Hunk continued their bickering and theorizing on how to proceed, Shiro turned Blue, drifting over to Red and the falcon fighter behind him. Shiro punched in some keys, picking up the crackling frequency on the other side. He cleared his throat.

“Commander Hira. This is Captain Shiro. Do you copy? Are you conscious?”

Pidge and Hunk shut up immediately, the two of them scrambling to open up their lines and get on the same frequency. 

Silence was on the line. Shiro frowned, prodding again.

“Commander Hira, do you copy?”

“...Are the formalities out of pity or spite?”

Shiro let out teensy, tiny, mental sigh. “Commander, is there any way we can reach your people quickly? Any way to stop them?”

Hira scoffed, her arms hugging her knees. “Bold to ask your enemy how to defeat your enemy. Why would I give you any information?”

“Because these are the same people that left you behind?”

Hira raised her eyes quickly, then lowered them just as fast. She looked to the side, defeated. “...He has too much power. You’ve seen it yourself. He has the strongest weapon in the universe, along with a near infinite supply of quintessence. There’s no way you can stop him.”

The hopelessness in her voice pained Shiro. Hearing someone of authority giving up was disheartening. But Shiro couldn’t just let it be. “There has to be something. You’ve fought this hard. You can still fight for life!”

“Ha! What life? King Alfor is going to rewrite life itself. And with me here, I’m sure I’ll be blotted out just as you all will.”

Shiro frowned. He didn’t want to give up. Lance was charging in and doing whatever he could. Why couldn’t he? He turned Blue to look behind him. Yellow and Green were staring back at him, Hunk and Pidge most likely hanging on each word he spoke to Hira. Like him, they probably thought she had some secret Maltean way of reaching the ship.

Shiro clutched his controls, hoping, if anything, Lance would make it.

 

\--

 

At home, Lance would usually open the window to stick his head out for a car ride. If he did that now, he was sure his head would pop right off his body.

Lance was glued in his seat, the speed so intense it was sticking him to the back of his chair. He watched stars stream by as lines of light. His muscles twitched from the strain on his arms. Despite how fast he was going, he knew—

It wasn’t fast enough.

“C’mon...c’mon!”

Lance gritted his teeth, mentally willing Black to go even faster. He could sense the Black Lion wanting the same thing, but even it was getting to its limits. Lance cursed.

“Please...we have to make it. I have to...I need help. Please...we’ve gotta make it!”

Lance felt a warmth in his hands. He gripped his controls tighter. He squeezed his eyes shut. He screamed.

“Come, **ON**!”

Lance opened his eyes, and gasped. He wasn’t in the Black Lion’s cockpit anymore.

He was back in the astral plane.

The stars lit up the sky. The black eclipsed moon hung in the air. The biggest difference he noticed was the purple tint of the atmosphere instead of red. That, and there was no Lion towering over him either. Lance looked around, baffled as to why he was here. Slight panic settled on his chest, as he really had some other priorities at the moment.

A voice made his skin tingle.

“Lance.”

He whirled around. Standing behind him, her hair up in her signature bun, dressed in her old Altean flight suit, ready for a brawl, was—

“Allura.” Lance turned and ran at her. He practically crashed into her arms, wrapping her in a crushing hug. She returned one just as crushing, her arms warm around him.

They pulled away. Allura’s smile was beaming and gentle. Her eyes sparkled with the stars above. Despite the darkness of the plane, she shone with an ethereal glow. 

But...wait?

“Wait. How are you here? I thought you said you couldn’t meddle with other universes.”

Allura shrugged, her smile turning playful, and maybe a little devious. “I wouldn’t say this is meddling. A friend called for help. I can’t just ignore that.” She winked.

Lance’s smile grew, but then remembered exactly why he was in a rush, shifting to a serious look.

“Keith’s been kidnapped. I have to get to him and get to him fast.”

Allura put on her get-down-to-business grin, nodding her head. “And you already have the tools to make that possible.”

Lance blinked, thoroughly confused as to what she meant. Allura shook her head lightly, smiling up at him. She looked above his head, out over to the sky. 

“The Lion knows the way. You just need to see through its eyes.”

Lance turned and followed her gaze. He couldn’t tell what she was looking at. All he saw was a mass of stars painted in the sky…

...Two stars...stuck out.

Lance stared at them, two bright beacons, side by side. One had a hazy blue glow. It’s light felt familiar, comforting. Like he was looking in a mirror. The star next to it was a fiery red. It emminated warmth and courage. Staring at it, Lance could feel his own confidence building. Like, as long as he looked at that star, he could do anything. 

Lance’s body wanted to pull towards the star, his mind like a tunnel, focused only on the light. He heard a purr in his head, deep and loud. Lance could simultaneously feel himself standing in the astral plane and sitting back in Black’s cockpit.

All of a sudden, images appeared in Lance’s mind. 

Lance saw himself, pushing over tables and equipment, coming over and grabbing Shiro’s shoulder. He saw himself in a healing pod, asleep, a finger poking at the glass. He was talking at himself in a bedroom on the Castle of Lions. Lance watched as he passed himself in the Castle hangar, striding by a hug, a little twinge of guilt that he had duties first before showing any kind of happiness. He flipped around, looking at himself after a blaster shot, saying distinctly, “ _I gotcha, buddy_.”

Lance saw every scene of himself in first person, in someone _else’s_ first person. His emotions roller-coastered from disgruntled to impressed to proud to—

Victory. Fear. And relief. All mashed together. 

Except. The feeling had its own word...

Lance’s vision zoomed. He could see a giant ship with red light. It focused even more. He saw a bridge with consoles and large windows. And finally—

He saw Keith. Locked against a wall, looking exhausted.

“I see him.”

A hand rested on Lance’s shoulder. Allura stood behind him, smiling triumphantly. 

“Go.”

She released her hand. A sun began to rise in the astral plane, casting out the stars and drowning everything in an orange glow. All except for two. Lance’s eyes were glued to the red star. Which, like the marks on his cheeks, began to glow with energy. 

In an instant with a flash of light, Lance disappeared, leaving behind fairy lights in his place. Allura took a step back, her hands at her sides in fists. She looked up to the sky, watching the red and blue stars twinkle.

“Do you think he’ll make it?”

She turned. Striding up to stand next to her, a purple glow surrounding him, was Lotor.

Allura looked back to the stars. “I know he will.” And she did. Her confidence in Lance was stronger than anything she could accomplish as a cosmic being. She smiled. “He’d travel across the galaxy to get to him.”

Lotor pouted, then huffed out a sigh, smiling. He raised his head to join her gaze.

Behind them, a bright violet star sparked into being, right next to a pale pink one.

 

\--

 

The paladins wanted to put their heads together, but the lack of morale was taking its toll. Each one of them sat in their cockpits, sifting through their brains for at least one bright idea.

Someone other than a Paladin got one.

A lion roared, perking Shiro, Hunk, And Pidge. Even Hira looked out her window.

Red flexed his legs, rearing his head back and let out a piercing cry. Scooting back a smidge, he catapulted forward, leaving a red trail of light in his wake. He was out of sight in less than a tic.

The other three blinked, stupefied at how fast Red got outta there.

“Well, at least we know like paladin, like Lion,” Hunk commented.

Pidge punched a series of buttons on her dash. “Since the Red Lion’s mobile, we can follow it after Lance. We have to hurry if we’re going to catch up.”

The three Lions turned to follow…

...The _THREE_ Lions turned to follow…

...Pidge grunted, stopping Green. She turned around to see Blue, looking back at Hira’s fighter.

“Shiro! Come on, let’s go!”

Shiro understood Pidge’s urgency, but there was something he had to do. He flew Blue back closer to the fighter.

“Commander. I know you think it’s over. And I’m getting to my limit too. But we can’t give up here. Not when we still have a spirit to fight.”

Hira looked down into her lap, her eyes cloudy. “And what do you expect me to do, Captain? Be a prisoner? A bargaining chip? It’s not like it’d matter.”

Shiro’s nose twitched. “You fight like it's part of your being. I know someone like that would do anything to help their people. Are you convinced Alfor will spare them all? That life will be perfect for each of them if he succeeds?”

“Shiro…”

“Hold on, Pidge.”

Hira’s brow quirked with questioning. She had never tried to understand the king’s overall plan. She just knew he wanted to bring back his dead wife and child. Which, for some reason, meant creating an entirely new universe. She’d just assumed that the Altean people would be carted over to the new reality. 

But. What WOULD happen to them? Would they be replaced? Destroyed? Hira knew she was a ruthless warrior, but she fought for her empire. For her people. 

And the way the paladin was making it sound...her people were in danger.

Hira squinted. “So? Are you suggesting I help you?”

“I’m suggesting you help your troops.”

Hira finally looked up at the Blue Lion, surprise widening her eyes. Shiro looked down at her jet, his eyes doing his Captain title justice.

“We’ll get you to the ship. Convince the armada to revolt. Don’t even bother with Alfor. Make them see reason and make them see that they’re walking into their own demise.”

Hira stared. She couldn’t believe what this whelp was suggesting. Turn her back...betray her king. All to essentially save her people. Cower away from man she bowed to and feared for centuries? Or save the fate of the troops that didn’t know any better?

Hira shot up from her seat, and ran to the back of the cockpit.

Shiro watched a hatch open up on the falcon fighter. A small grey and red shape exited, a bright crimson light of a jet pack sparking behind it, propelling it forward. Shiro smiled, and dove down to meet her. Blue opened up her mouth, letting Hira inside. Once her jaw was shut, Shiro spun around, and shot off towards his friends.

Hunk and Pidge followed suit, kicking their Lions into gear to follow after Red.

Hunk pursed his lips, a little shocked at gaining an enemy for an ally. “Okay, so, now that we’re all kosher here, anyone have a concrete plan of what we’re doing next?” 

“For now, we catch up. We’ll worry about specifics once we get there.” Shiro heard a door swipe open behind him. Hira strode in, pride in her posture. She gripped the back of his seat.

“You all caused a few holes on the base. Security will be scrambled with plenty of opportunities to get in.”

Hunk cocked a grin. “Yup, that was all my idea.” His eyes popped open, realizing who he just answered. “Uhh, sorry for calling you Malteans by the way. Just made it easier for us to tell you guys apart.”

The comms were silent for a solid six tics. Hira raised a disinterested brow.

“What’s a Maltean?”

 

\--

 

Lance didn’t know what speed was before. 

He blasted off in his seat, stars and galaxies creating streams of lights on his sides. He tunneled through a vortex, his focus on the end of it, and what that entailed. He gripped his controls tight, arms shaking his entire body. He gritted his teeth, the energy coursing through him, buzzing his skin. He cheeks felt warm, his Altean marks lighting up his vision. 

What was also in his vision, were more images and scenes, all with him at the center.

Lance was in the Red Lion, dive bombing downward, the Blue Lion racing him. Lance felt his own body at his back, arms gripped tight and crawling up a tall elevator shaft. Lance called out his own name, desperate to hear his voice, knowing he’d just been attacked. Lance looking at himself with pots and pans in his head, sausage on his neck, and blankets at his back, looking both ridiculous and stunning at the same time. 

Lance never saw himself this way. Someone who was more suave and considerate and passionate than he would ever give himself credit for. He saw through the eyes of someone that looked past his flaws. Better yet: he saw through the eyes of someone who accepted his flaws with his strengths. Someone who knew Lance was someone never to be underestimated.

Lance’s chest swelled as he took a deep breath. His palms felt warm, light beginning to shine off of them.

Lance saw himself shoot off finger guns and spout weird noises from his mouth. He watched as he piloted the Red Lion for the first time. He was running, but knew he’d be able to shoot the drone at his back, after distinctly telling himself “don’t miss.” Lance heard himself say, with utmost certainty, “ _I think he’s like, the future._ ” He pulled himself out of the open airlock. He saw himself petting Kaltenecker on Altea, the wind blowing juniberries past his hair.

And.

He saw. A faint smile. A warm glow. A clutched hand.

_We did it. We are a good team._

Lance closed his eyes. He felt the scream deep in his throat. He let it out, guttural and tearing. He punched his thrusters forward like the world depended on it (if you asked him, it did).

Lance felt a *thump*, like the sound of a deep sonic boom. It radiated through the controls, up into his body, and out towards the rest of the Lion. Lance couldn’t see it, but he felt it. Black received an exponential surge in energy. A burst jolted Lance’s back. He saw speed gauges increase by triple. A new gauge opened up with something like a speedometer and radar mashed together. The Black Lion stretched its legs—

And its wings, opened fully, like a mechanical eagle.

Lance punched the controls.

A tic later, the Black Lion flashed out of sight, gone…

 

\--

 

The aura from Oriande was multiplying their quintessence reserves faster than Alfor could regulate them. The pure energy created from the power, counteracting with the negative quintessence from the rift entities, was skyrocketing levels to no end. It was only a matter of time.

“Renfrin, route all remaining power to Voltron. It’s ore makeup will provide the final amplifications needed to prepare my work.”

“Yes my lord,” he turned to a station. “All systems to the engine hangar. All quintessence reserves to main power.”

The scientists complied. Throughout the ship, tubes lit up with bright red and blue quintessence, streaming its way to the base of the ship. In their lamps, rift creatures spazzed and jerked violently, their power being siphoned off to other parts of the ship. Some of the non-essential parts of the base shut off completely, having to make up power for main systems that were losing quintessence. In the engine room, Eviltron glowed with a burgundy smoke, becoming a mass of pure power and energy. The Malteans repairing the room backed away from the mech, their skin feeling hot and bodies vibrating from the sheer aura of the beast. Scientists ran out and shut the door behind them, not wanting to be any closer to it. 

Alfor stood at his console. He looked out to the mass of stars, the galaxy stretching out before him. He shut his eyes, contemplating exactly how he’d rearrange them.

“Soon, my loves,” he whispered to himself, “soon…”

Behind him, Keith went limp as another round of shocks ended. He fought to stay awake, but his body was yelling at him to just end it all. He panted, his breath damp and hot. If his lungs had been on fire back on the gas planet, they were melted now. Keith’s eyes were unfocused, the spark in them completely gone. His strength was drained. Each normal function of his body felt like a labor. His head was empty.

Except...for one thought. Before Keith completely let go of his mind, he kept one thing close to him. One thing to know, no matter what, he’d be fine with whatever outcome.

_...at...at least...you’re safe._

_I’m...I’m sorry...I couldn’t…_

A red alert popped up on Renfrin’s console. A quick keystroke later, and the scientist brought up blinking alerts all over the main screen. Renfrin gasped, feeling the heated gaze behind him.

“ _Renfrin_. What is happening?”

“I—I am getting reads of spatial pressure in the vicinity. Coming at high velocities. I think we need to shift our defenses to—“

The entire ship jerked, Renfrin and many other scientists practically falling over. Alfor only shifted his leg slightly to keep his balance. He frowned, his nostrils flaring, as he looked outside, a flash of light arriving across the window.

 

\--

 

Lance burst through the light. On the other side, he blinked, looking straight at the Maltean ship. Pods flew around it lazily, before getting the alert that an enemy was close by, changing their routes to make their way for the Black Lion.

Lance jeered at them, for once, not in the mood for an epic firefight.

“Alright, let’s see what you can do!”

Lance punched his controls, and Black shot off.

Pods buzzed around him, but Lance picked them off one by one with a tail laser. A group of fighters charged his direction, and he opened up Black’s mouth, firing an ion beam. The fighters disintegrated into ash. He flew through it, closer to the ship. Lance shifted a gear, and the Black Lion’s double-ended jaw blade sprung to life. He pulled on the controls, and Black spiraled around a tower on the Maltean ship like a streamer, leaving the biggest car-keying he could ever attempt in his life. It not only scratched the ship, but made mini explosions pop where lines and electric wires were cut. 

To put it simply, Lance and Black wreaked absolute chaos.

 

\--

 

Alfor gripped his console, furious with how incompetent his troops were. It was one Lion. One Lion out of the set. He knew alone they weren’t all that powerful.

However, if it was the Black Lion, and Alfor had its pilot on the ship with him…

“Renfrin! Blast that accursed Lion out of the cosmos!”

“Y—Yes sire!” Renfrin’s voice was shaky, trying to keep both the quintessence levels moving to where they needed to be, and trying not to let everything go up in smoke with this Lion attack.

Another blast shook the ship. Renfrin cursed how strong one Lion must be to even move a giant base.

 

\--

 

Lance smiled as another group of pods went down, an ion laser burning through them. He looked to the Maltean base. He concentrated, eyeing the exact spot that he saw through the Black Lion’s eyes. He focused.

His gut felt hot and tugging, a chord pulling on it, to the center and top of the ship. Lance gritted and braced himself. 

“Alrighty. Let’s do this.”

Lance felt the energy in his stomach expand, much more quickly than in the past. He lent his strength to the entirety of the Black Lion, surrounding it with a faint blue glow. When he was sure the Lion was filled, Lance gunned his controls, and shot straight down for the Maltean ship.

 

\--

 

Alfor felt a flash of hot emotion.

Lance felt a flash of despicable rage.

But he ignored it, opting for the sensation of familiarity and warmth sitting right behind it.

Lance snatched it, and flew off, phasing himself and the Lion straight through the Maltean ship.

Alfor looked behind him, the feeling...and the Galra whelp… were gone.

Alfor looked forward, a scowl on his face, but blasts echoed throughout the ship. Lights went out and the bridge went dark. Generators went silent, the ship now quiet except for the troops and scientists panicking.

“What did he do?!”

“M—my lord, I—I b-believe he sent a shock to our systems—“

“Get it running NOW!”

Renfrin flinched, dashing over to a pair of mechanics and engineers, giving them orders to, if they wanted their lives, fix the ship, quick.

Alfor was white-knuckled. He vowed, once they had power back, to dispose of these alternate paladins once and for all.

 

\--

 

Lance gasped. Sweat trickled at his brow, hot and humid. Two teleport jumps like that made his mind a little woozy. A crazy rush, but he had to make his brain catch up with the rest of his body. He shook his head backward, and smiled. 

“We...we did it. We did it! Aww, Keith did you see me and Black back there? We were awesome!”

Silence came from the back of the cockpit. 

Lance got up, and scrambled behind his seat. 

Keith was laying on the ground on his side. His arm cradled his head. Lance took off his own helmet, bending on the ground and lifting Keith up to face him. He huffed out the rest of his elation.

“C’mon man. We—we gotta make sure those jerks are…”

Lance’s smile faded and died, as did the words in his mouth.

Keith wasn’t moving.

Lance tore off Keith’s helmet, getting a better look at him. Keith’s face was blank, his eyes shut, his mouth a sliver. His skin was pale, his scar dark and faded.

Lance’s voice was small. “...Keith?”

Lance looked all over him. He watched Keith’s chest, willing it to move up and down. It didn’t. He held his hand up to Keith’s nose to feel some kind of air blowing out. It didn’t. He put two fingers at Keith’s neck, praying something would be thrumming on the other side.

It didn’t.

It wouldn’t.

He...he was…

  


_Gone_.

  


“No. No no no no no, c’mon man! You can’t do this! Not you! Not our leader. You—you can’t just—“ Lance shut his eyes tight. He pounded a fist on Keith’s chest plate. His own chest was twisted. Hot tears pooled in his throat, but his eyes wouldn’t comply, the corners of them stinging dry. His mind turned into a hurricane.

He’d done it, for real this time, again. For real, he just lost someone important to him. This time, he COULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING. He knew it. The ripping in his chest hurt so bad, but the only thing...the only person... that could do anything about it, Lance realized, was lying limp in his arms.

He gritted his teeth. He pounded on his head. “Come on you WORTHLESS idiot! All these crazy powers, piloting Black, and there’s NOTHING you can do?!” Lance let his arm fall, laying it over Keith. His other hand cradled Keith’s head, wanting nothing more than to see his cosmic eyes open and fill up with light. Lance’s face twisted uncomfortably.

“Keith…,” Lance croaked, “c’mon man...you’ve...you’ve been through so much more than this...please…”

Lance leaned over. His chest shook and hiccuped. Water began to fall on Keith’s face.

“Why... _WHY_ do you _always_ go...where I can’t catch up to you…”

Lance leaned his forehead against Keith’s. For a moment, he let everything fall away. The only thing he let himself  think about was him and Keith, here and now. He let his frustration, his fear, his anxiety--he let it all go. He realized he'd taken it all for granted. From that first day, finding and saving Shiro, he’d taken it for granted that Keith would be right there next to him. A rival. A friend. It didn’t matter what. Just that Keith would just BE there. But now...now Lance felt what that WASN'T like.

And it felt terrible.

Lance’s cheeks were hot. His tears streamed, dripping down his chin and slightly in his mouth, tasting the bitter salt. He didn’t want to open his eyes, because that would only show him again that all of this was real. But, there was still a fight on the outside. People were in danger. His friends would need him. Lance hated it, but he took a breath in, opening his eyes—

A glow, like the light of a moon, shone around the cockpit. Lance looked where his hands were; a pale blue light sparkled off of them. His vision seemed brighter, equating the warmth on his face to his marks shiningon his cheeks. Lance’s eyes shot down to Keith.

Keith’s body was wrapped in the glow. Despite the cool light, a heat reflected off of him. Lance felt the energy in his core expand, but not as violent or forceful as any time before. This felt like...carefully blowing into a bubble, letting the air fill it delicately, but giving it as much as air it needed to be big and strong. 

Lance let the power expand, and then drain out of him. He felt a tension release, like the plug of a dam being pulled, the water spouting out of it. It moved through his body, down his arms to his hands, and into Keith. Lance watched, his eyes wide, drinking everything in. At one point, he felt a chord snap, separating himself from the power. Lance’s gaze traveled all over Keith, the glow brightening for a quick tic, before fading, nestling into his skin. 

Lance was silent and still for a solid eight heartbeats. He waited. He waited for something . He waited like a nuclear bomb was about to drop, and he wanted to see the impact.

But…

Nothing dropped.

Everything stayed still.

Including Keith.

Lance’s eyes pooled again, cursing himself for thinking he had any hope or power that something would change. He bent over, picking Keith up in his arms, holding him close. The tears cascaded down his face. 

“ _I’m sorry...I’m so sorry_ …”

…

…

“You’re...you’re hugging...too hard.”

Lance’s eyes flashed open faster than Black could fly.

Slowly, he pulled away from Keith, lowering him down slightly. Lance could barely focus. A couple of coughs. A grunt of discomfort, and then—

Eyes.

A pair of eyes that held a dark galaxy within them, but also of stars offering glints of light that meant life. 

They blinked.

“...Lance?”

“ **KEITH**!”

Lance brought Keith back into the embrace, a little tight and a little quickly. Keith wheezed under Lance’s crushing vise.

“I—I said that’s too hard!”

“And you’re not hugging hard enough! Seriously dude, reciprocate here!”

Lance backed off (minisculely) as Keith brought his own arms to wrap around Lance. Lance held him for what felt like hours, feeling warmth and joy and just all the best emotions ‘cause this was probably the happiest he’d been in three years.

Lance finally pulled away, helping Keith into a more seated position. Keith coughed again, his voice starting to come back. “What...what happened?”

“Uhh, let’s see. You got kidnapped. Tortured. Scared me half to death. And now we’re here. Do I need to go into more specifics?”

Keith looked up at Lance. He blushed slightly, taking from Lance’s tone and the residual water on his face that Keith was a very, VERY lucky guy to be conscious right now. A smile started to grow on his face, before faltering, as he really processed what he saw. “Your face…”

Lance scoffed. “Dude. I think a near-death experience tops your little nick to my face. Seriously, it's just a scratch—“

“No, not that. Your marks...they’re gone.”

Lance’s face went slack. His hand went up to his cheek. He looked down at Keith’s chestplate. Sure enough, in the reflection, Lance’s face was clear. Well, aside from the cut to his brow, which Lance was starting to believe would probably scar. But...Keith was right. His Altean marks had vanished.

Lance looked directly at Keith. The guy had a face of confusion and...and almost pity. Lance frowned, but then put on his winning (and trademark) smirk, making Keith blink. 

“ _Psshh_. Those powers were getting to be a pain anyway. If I had to deal with space-magic-indigestion the rest of my life, I’d be begging Hunk for his antacid stash.” (Across the galaxy, Hunk sneezed) “Better to have you walking and talking than two dumb little freckles.”

Keith’s brow was still creased, but he smiled. Smiled because...well, he didn’t really know why. Lance was here. _He_ was here. And they were both okay. For him, that’s all he needed—

Wait. _Here_ was—

“Are...are we in the Black Lion?”

Lance threw an arm behind him, rapidly scratching his neck. “Yeah...kinda needed a fast way to get to you. But it called for me, I didn’t hi-jack it or anything!”

Keith’s eyes were wide. His mouth was in a slight pout. Lance’s face got redder, his hair steaming. “Unless I had a personal Teleduv strapped to my belt, that was the only way you were gonna get saved, Samurai!”

“No—no, I mean. Just...cool.”

And it was. Keith was impressed. Out of this entire experience, not once had Lance failed to surprise him. Keith found that to be a very good, and somehow calming thing.

A blast turned their attention to the window. Outside Black, pods and fighters regained power. The Maltean ship’s lights blinked back on. Ballistas turned to get a lock on their target.

Lance and Keith scrambled up, bolting for the dash. Lance immediately sat down in the pilot’s seat.

“Seriously, what's it gonna take to beat these guys?! Can’t they just sit still for one tic—“ Lance pouted, his eyes drifting up slowly to Keith. “Uhhh, sorry man. I’ll give you back your—“

“It’s fine. Besides,” Keith looked down at him, grinning with pride, “you look pretty good at the head.”

Lance’s face starburst with red, a shiver rattling him for an instant. He smiled big, the corners of his cheeks already hurting from the amount he’d been smiling in the last five minutes. “Okay then. Let’s move!”

He punched the controls, and Black dove.

 

\--

 

Renfrin thanked the ancients that the power came back. Any later and Alfor would probably get ready to toss him out the airlock. Of course, that didn’t mean he was in the clear, as the king shouted orders behind him.

“All operational armaments are to be directed at the Black Lion! All shots are to be set to their most lethal setting! And send all power that is not directly related to the bridge to the engine room immediately!”

“Y-Yes my lord!”

Renfrin punched in codes and passwords to get all of those directions done fast. He knew he’d better not argue, with how adding that much power to the engine rooms was dangerous, or how leaving hardly any power for the ship could cause problems later. Minutely, he portioned off a small amount of power, without the king’s knowledge, to an inside backup generator. If things got sticky, at least Renfrin knew he had an option out.

 

\--

 

Black dodged an onslaught of laser fire, picking off pods with its tail beam. It careened over a group of fighters, before somersaulting and catching them with an ion beam from behind. A deployed cruiser shot out its own beam, Black missing it by a paw.

Keith clutched the back of Lance’s seat, gritting his teeth. “Easy with the controls and keep an eye on the cruiser!”

Lance whipped his head back. “Okay, I don’t need any back-seat piloting here! It’s a new Lion and I’m getting used to it!”

“Pods!”

Lance faced forward and pulled up, dodging a cluster of Maltean pods shooting right for him. Lance and Keith both sighed as they got in the clear.

“You don’t have to be so harsh with it.”

“Oh and you’re such an expert. What? Scared I might crash?”

“With you at the helm?” Keith paused for a tic, then gave Lace a sarcastic smile. “Couldn’t be calmer.”

Lance raised a brow, but jerked as another group of fighters blasted red beams. Lance shifted the gears, activating Black’s jaw blade.

He punched the thruster, and Black went wild, dancing around the cruiser, a violet spiral in space. The cruiser sparked, then exploded, breaking in four different parts. Lance beamed at his workmanship.

Until another cruiser and a bajillion more pods popped out of the base.

Lance and Keith’s faces turned blank, mouths thin and wide. They both shuddered.

Keith gulped. “That’s...a lot of pods.”

“Yup. You got any ideas? ‘Cause no more magic mojo means I’m out of ‘em.”

A roar perked both of their ears.

A twinkle of light sparked, then a piercing ion beam streaked through the sky, blasting a horde of pods into dust.

Dashing all around, firing beams and lasers, chomping and snapping the wings of jets, clawing and crushing pods together—

...Okay Red didn’t have to go THAT hard.

The boys’ chests swelled. Red came in like a comet, fast and hot and ready to wreck it. They smiled, before deadpanning. Lance pursed his lips.

“Wait...Red’s out there—“

“—and we’re in here.”

They looked at one another blinking. Keith shrugged.

“Guess the Red Lion followed you here.”

“Yeah… or, he knew you were in trouble, and came after you.”

Keith and Lance let a silent thought pass between them, one that was both striking, and pacifying all at once. Lance quirked his shoulder. 

“Red gets antsy. Probably came ‘cause both our butts get into more trouble than we’re worth.”

Keith smiled. “Yeah. Some more than others.”

“Okay, if you wanna start something I’m game. I’ve got a list that dates back to your literal first day in our class and the first six pages are the Garrison alone—“

“Pods!”

Lance jacked his controls to the left to dodge yet another round of lasers. He panted, the adrenaline rushing through him. 

The Lions made their dent, but that’s all they made. Red would rip into fighter after fighter, and Black would blast pod after pod, but more and more kept coming. More lights on the Maltean base powered on, before fading out, the base of the ship glowing the brightest. If they were going to do anything, they had to do it soon.

Lance shot out another ion beam at some pods. “It’s a really good thing there isn’t a shot limit to these guys. But seriously, we’re gonna run out of steam.”

“We can’t take them like this.”

Keith heard the crackle of a comm inside the cockpit. Lance perked his ears, hearing it too. A speaker came to life. A new voice echoed in the room.

“You won’t have to!” Shiro shouted.

If Lance hadn’t expelled all his tears from earlier, he could cry (oh, wait, yup there was still some more in there, false alarm). Keith beamed, looking out across the window.

First, Yellow spiraled in, drilling through a cruiser with the skills of a carpenter, shooting a hole straight through the middle. Next, Green blasted her ion beam, then shot out a trio of green blasts, vines enveloping a group of fighters into a metal and wood salad. Last and certainly not least, Blue fired her freeze ray, stopping pods in their space-tracks, then roared out a sonar ray, shattering them all.

“Guys! You’re here! I can’t believe it!”

“Well you better believe it, and believe me when I say I’m gonna STRANGLE you for flying off like that, Lance!”

Pidge’s words were harsh, but adorable, still making Lance flinch. “Can we avoid and attempted murder talk please, Pidge? Had to go through that one already and would rather not relive it.”

“WHAT?!” Hunk gaped as he pummeled into more fighters. “What the heck does THAT mean?!”

“Uhhh, hehe, never mind!”

Shiro spun around, eyeing more pods coming out of the base. “We can’t keep picking them off, we have to take more of an offensive!”

Keith nodded. “Shiro’s right. Let’s end this so we can go home.” He turned, running to the back of the cockpit.

Lance whiplashed. “Wait?! Where are you going?!”

Keith dashed and reached down to grab his helmet, putting it on. “There’s a Lion out there that needs a paladin.”

“Yeah, but, isn’t THIS your Lion?!”

Keith looked back at him, and Lance froze.

His brow was set with determination. His posture was rigid with confidence. His smile was lopsided but proud. His eyes brought in all the lights around them.

“Looks like the Black Lion doesn’t hate you after all, Team Leader.”

Lance blushed, and Keith ran out, finding the escape hatch on Black. Lance spazzed and shivered, realizing, DUH, he had to fly closer to Red. The speakers in the cockpit crackled.

“Wait, did I hear that right?” Pidge asked.

Hunk whined. “Wait, does that mean Lance got a new Lion? Dude! That’s like the record of most Lions piloted! No fair!”

“Quit your yapping Hunk. You wouldn’t leave Yellow for nothing. Besides, it’s just one more friend I get to make.”

“Yeah, and a brand new dynamic we have to get used to IN THE MIDDLE OF A FIGHT!”

“No time for your mutinous comments now, Pidge. We’ve got work to do.”

“Yes, and does that include flying still enough so I can reach Red?”

Lance perked, Keith’s voice coming on speaker. He caught sight of Red flying below him, rising slowly to meet them.

Keith stood at the base of the hatch. With a swift jump, he propelled himself into space, lasers and blasts lighting up around him. Three tics later, he slammed into Red, a hatch opening up right next to him, letting Keith in.

Lance sighed. “Whew! He’s in!”

“Then you guys fend them off for a minute, I’ll be right back,” Shiro called out, Blue zooming off to the Maltean base.

Lance frowned. “Wait, what's he doing?”

“Oh, he just convinced Hira to rebel against her king, rally the Malteans together, and help up stop Alfor from trying to rewrite the universe,” Hunk answered.

“WHAT?!”

 

\--

 

Keith dropped down into the cockpit. Running to the console, red lights flickered. Reads from the battle scrolled by on his screen. He sat down, the seat familiar, so long since he felt it. A purr echoed in his mind.

“Good to see you too Red. Thanks for coming.” Keith lowered his vision. “...And...thanks for keeping him out of trouble.”

Red roared, agreeing with Keith, because yes, there had been a LOT of trouble. Keith smiled.

“Let’s go.”

He punched his gears, charging into the battle, Red’s speed thrilling and nostalgic.

 

\--

 

Alfor’s patience was a thin wire, and he had a pair of shears ready to cut it in half.

Alerts blared as more pods got destroyed, and more deployed to meet the Lions in the fight. Troops ran around shouting orders and affirmations and confusion and pretty much no one was organized. Scientists and engineers were no better, finding artillery and energy supplies were running out.

Alfor wanted it all over.

Immediately.

“All power to the engine room. Start detach procedures for Voltron. I am finishing this _now_.”

Alfor strode off, his cape flying behind him. 

Renfrin didn’t even salute. He figured the king was so preoccupied with his anger, that he didn’t even realize that Renfrin was there. The scientist simply typed in some instructions, activating the protocols to start up Eviltron. He kept an eye on his backup power reserve, hoping the king wouldn’t notice it once he booted up the mech.

 

\--

 

Shiro dodged laser fire from a couple of jets, blasting them with ice, and leaving them behind in the cold. Another pod rushed to ram him, but he darted up, missing it completely. Next to him, Hira clutched his seat, unnerved by the sudden movements.

“Is there any way this could be any smoother?”

“Are you really criticizing my flying in a fire fight?”

“Are you questioning an adversary who’s agreed to help you?”

“And are you really considering double crossing us right now?”

Shiro and Hira stared at each other, both of them putting on their most authoritative faces. Both had years of experience dealing with insubordinate troops and difficult employees, just not ones that matched each other quip for quip. Hira slowly turned to the window, looking back out to the fight. “Get me in close to that pillar. There’s a duct that leads straight to the bridge from there.”

“Gladly.”

Shiro brought Blue up to the west pillar. He fired off a couple more ion beams, clearing out the pods that were there. Mentally, he was a little conflicted that shooting Hira’s own arsenal might be counterproductive to their truce. But Hira had assured them all that the pods and fighters were primarily automated, being infused with Maltean tech and energy from the rift creatures. A few destroyed pods didn’t bother her as long as her people were safe.

As they approached the pillar, Hira stood, collecting her helmet. “I’ll jump off to the right. Once I’m out you can return to your team.” She turned around walking to the back of the cockpit. Shiro turned his head.

“Commander.”

Hira stopped and looked at him. Shiro offered a sympathetic gaze.

“It was an honor to meet you.”

Hira pouted for a moment, then smiled, amused. “It was a privilege to defeat you.”

Shiro chuckled. “And a pleasure to return the favor.”

Hira nodded, then ran out the doors.

Shiro dropped Blue in close, more pods getting ready to make their way over. Blue blasted them with a sonic ray, halting their movements.

Underneath, Hira stood at the hatch, then hopped down, using her jetpack to shoot herself toward the ship’s pillar. She felt the Blue Lion retreat behind her, the pods giving chase to it and leaving her be. She slammed into the pillar, gripping the side with magnetic hand and feet pads. Clicking her wrist, she turned on a mini laser, and ran it in a circle on the metal. Popping of the panel, she slid into the ship, the artificial gravity letting her get her feet again. A quick look to the left, she deduced what part of the duct she was in, then bolted down the shaft, red lights blinking out as she ran.

 

\--

 

Alfor sat in the cockpit as power levels reached maximum. He meditated, focusing his thoughts on amplifying Voltron with all of the quintessence in the ship. While that half Galra brat escaped before he drained him completely, it was enough to react to the reserves that Alfor had, his mech bursting at the bolts with power.

Alfor watched as both the regular quintessence gauges filled, as did the rift gauges, the positive and negative energies ready to mix when the time was right. 

And if Alfor succeeded, he would gain one more boost of power to finally end it.

“I will see you soon, my loves.”

And he gunned the controls.

 

\--

 

Shiro joined the fight just in time.

Each Lion had a handful to juggle. Yellow was caught in a chase in front of an angry group of pods. Green had a fighter attached to her back, trying to nip it off. Red’s head darted back and forth, caught between two incoming groups of jets. And Black (bless Lance’s heart) was chasing its tail in a circle, a pod stuck on the end. A tic later, and Shiro figured that Lance remembered the tail lasers, a small beam fizzling and shooting off the pod.

“Okay! I think I’ve had enough fun for one day! We got a plan?!” Hunk exclaimed, chasing a pair of pods in circles and into each other. 

Pidge answered, “Not get killed?”

“Well, that. And we’re doing that splendidly. I’m talking about ending it!”

Shiro helped out by freezing the pods still on Hunk’s trail. “I know there’s one thing we can do.”

Keith flared up a heat beam, melting a jet on the spot. “Just say the word, Lance.”

Lance perked. The silence in his comm was a little startling. But then he put it together: his team was waiting for HIS order. For HIM to make the call. He couldn’t see it, but he could feel it. Each Paladin smiling with pride, ready to follow his lead. He wasn’t used to it. But.

It felt pretty good.

Lance smiled, lowered his head to a ready position. “This is gonna be sweet,” he whispered to himself. Then he raised his head, the confidence from his team building. “Alright everyone it’s Razzle Dazzle time! **FORM VOLTRON!** ”

The Lions flew high, a bright rainbow of light in the darkness of space, and came together as one. The giant mech emerged, presiding proudly over the fight. 

Across the way, a darker figure appeared, clouds of black and red hazing around it, threatening spikes daring anyone to come closer. Eviltron crawled out of its hole, staring down Voltron and the paladins.

Hunk gulped. “Okay, last time we got creamed by that thing. What’s the strategy now?”

“Strategy is we have Voltron, Hunk. It’s an even match now.” Lance sounded confident, but even he was perturbed by the ominous bot.

Pidge did a quick scan, levels fluctuating on her dash. “He’s spiking quintessence. Those years of comet collecting and rift creature abuse have made that thing a radioactive time bomb. One wrong move and he could blow up the sector.”

“Well we’re not going to let that happen.” Shiro countered. 

Keith nodded. “Well Lance?”

Lance smiled. “Give it all you got.”

The paladins punched their gears. Voltron shot off like a rocket.

Alfor was ready for them, raising a grotesque beast hand, firing a red ion beam. Voltron dodged, then flipped, twisting to bring its right leg down, rushing a jump kick. Eviltron brought up its arms to block, but Voltron switched up, twisting again, bringing up its arm for a right hook, punching the bot in the side of the head. Eviltron careened to the side, shaken, but otherwise unaffected. Eviltron slashed its arm to the side, a jagged red pole of metal expanding, creating a blade. 

Lance took the hint. “Form sword!” 

Keith complied, materializing his…

The red bayard appeared from his hip. He looked at it for a tic, but then jammed it in the ignition. He could ponder later on how he switched bayards; most likely Red and Black acting on their own, switching them out while he and Lance were in the Black Lion’s cockpit.

A beat later, the right arm mashed into the left. Extending them out, the sword materialized in Red’s mouth. Voltron slashed it once for good measure, then charged. Eviltron met Voltron in the middle, clashing their blades together. A sonic wave expanded around them, making the paladins’ stomachs drop like a rollercoaster ride. They struggled against Eviltron, their swords sparking. The red beast pulled back, slashing his sword down, Voltron mimicking it. They parried blades, lighting up the space around them with flashes of red and blue, before striking them together once again.

Voltron’s limbs creaked under the pressure. Despite losing his Altean powers, Lance could still feel the dark energy smoking off of Eviltron. It twisted his stomach in knots, repulsed by the sheer energy and gnarled nature of the rift creature power. He thought of his team, most likely feeling the same poison seeping through. Lance brought the sword back, disconnecting them from the energy. They shot backward, putting distance between them, gaining a breath.

Hunk gasped. “Oh—okay. THAT is draining.”

Pidge breathed deep. “Any more hits like that, and we’ll be floating like a noodle.”

Before Shiro could speak up and  agree, Eviltron glowed in an ominous red light, then flashed, disappearing. 

Keith’s eyes widened. “What just happened?”

Pidge quickly punched in some numbers, zooming in where the bot had been before. She gasped. “The space is distorted! He jumped realities!”

“What?!”

Lance looked out. Sure enough, just ahead, the stars looked wonky. The broken pods on the other side of the distortion appeared wavy and bent. Lance’s mind went to the very next thought, that if Alfor disappeared, it wouldn’t be for long. 

Voltron looked all around, waiting for a sign that the mech monster would make its reappearance. A flash from behind, and Voltron’s back cracked, Eviltron coming from behind with a swift kick. 

The paladins gritted, shaking in their seats. Voltron surged forward, straight into the distorted space.

That’s when things got...uncomfortable, to put it mildly.

The paladins shook. Each of their minds went on survival mode. Pressure crushed their heads and chests. Pidge looked down at her arm, bent in weird and not good places. Hunk tried to breath, the action in slow motion and labored. Keith and Shiro tried to concentrate, but their minds flashed between the battle, the past, the war, and everything in between, all unintentionally. Lance gritted his teeth, pushing with all of his strength on his controls, willing Voltron to escape the space. The thrusters burst to life, and Voltron disconnected from the distortion violently like magnets separating. The paladins gasped for breath.

“What the QUIZNAK was that?!”

Pidge coughed and wheezed. “The only thing I ever sent into the anomaly scars was a drone. If WE get tossed in the scars, our atomic make up spazzes out from the time and space distortion.”

“WHICH,” Hunk interjected, “ I suggest we DON'T do again, please!”

Just then, Eviltron disappeared again, leaving behind another scar of warped spacetime. 

Hunk deadpanned. “He is just not going to make this easy for us, is he?”

Shiro made two mental moves ahead. “Let’s get out of this area. He could trap us in if we’re not careful.”

Voltron bolted upward, getting out of range from the anomalies. Rising higher, a flash of light burst above them. Eviltron brought its arms down, smacking Voltron in the head, send the paladins tumbling back down.

 

\--

 

“Collect all power from the remaining systems and put them into our reserves! If our King needs more power, we must be ready!”

Renfrin shouted to troops as they ran around, frantic as to what was occurring outside. Renfrin was just as nervous, wondering if the King’s bloodlust would carry over after the fight.

He didn’t notice the doors opening up behind him, until a voice boomed orders.

“Give me a status report on all of our assets, immediately!”

Renfrin turned, jumping, to see Hira, alive and most certainly not floating out in space.

“C—Commander! I—I didn’t realize—we—we thought you had perished!”

Hira squinted at him from the side, but brushed it off, attending to more important priorities than Renfrin’s slime. “Prepare a full draw back and retreat of the entire armada. We’re leaving.”

“Wha—?! You have no authority to call that! The king is out there fighting for—“

“For himself.” Hira supplied. “If we continue with whatever plan he has set forth, it will destroy us all. Altea, our people, are not...have never been of his concern.”

“But, retreat? Even for you, Commander, that doesn’t seem very honorable.”

Hira hardened her gaze, and remembered a small warrior, she would only admit mentally, besting her. 

“Save honor...for a competition. Not your life.” She turned, looking at him hard and determined. Renfrin wrung his hands.

“But...but IF we retreat, who’s to say he won’t…”

Hira raised an eye at Renfrin. She knew the man was a devious little insect. But, she at least gave him the benefit that he knew when to get out of a situation. Which, she would use to her advantage. “The other Voltron and paladins will hold him off. We can escape while they do. I’m sure you have some power to spare for an escape?”

Renfrin blinked, then smiled, leaning over the console and typing in some codes. New alerts sounded in the ship, signaling a mass retreat. Troops looked up to blinking lights, confused from the new tactical orders.

Hira composed herself, then switched on the ship’s loudspeaker, and ONLY, broadcasted to the ship. 

“Attention all personnel. This is Commander Hira. Our king is set on a path of power abuse and destruction. Our loyalty is nothing but a stepping stone for his own gain, which could rip your very lives apart. I ask that you pledge loyalty, not to your monarch, but to your families, your people, your planet. Let me guide you home, and away from a generation of struggle and violence.”

Despite the blaring alarms, the ship was quiet. A beat later, troops ran to their stations. Engineers worked on thrusters to get them running. Scientists rerouted power and reserved quintessence to aid in a light jump. Hira smiled.

Renfrin stood next to her. “These other paladins better be good as you say. Otherwise, I believe the king will be bent on revenge for this mutiny.”

Hira scoffed. “I only ever followed Alfor because I thought he was strong as an individual, and how he would expand the strength of Altea, not ever how much quintessence he had.” She looked out the window to the battle, both Voltrons clashing.

“They are a team. They fight for the defense of everyone. That kind of strength is rare, and even rarer to break. I mean,” her lip quirked. “They beat me. I can at least give them the benefit of the doubt.”

Renfrin smiled, only slightly. While most Malteans didn’t get along nowadays due to Alfor’s manic rule, perhaps they could change the course of their culture to something more communal again. At least he wouldn’t have to compete with Hira anymore.

Hira oversaw the escape procedures, some Malteans even smiling, knowing they would get to go home and see their families. Hira thought, it was crazy. Years of serving the king, invading hundreds of universes, destroying many civilizations in the process, how all of that went out the airlock. She was defying her king. Choosing to lead her troops into a retreat. Even planning on how they could rectify their past mistakes on Altea. All because one person told her to look to herself, and change.

Hira shut her eyes, silently thanking the paladins for their efforts.

...but not the least bit sorry for ditching the fight and leaving them behind. 

 

\--

 

Voltron struck Eviltron with a sword swipe. Eviltron tried to blast Voltron with an ion beam that missed (then it fired again, and it missed). Voltron a attempted to soccer-kick Eviltron that ended up looking like he tripped trying to kick a football.

So the battle was going great.

Hunk clutched his controls, bracing another impact on the legs. “I just realized that we are literally fighting Voltron here. Does anyone think that we might be so matched that we can’t beat each other?”

Shiro tried another kick, but was met with a hand that swatted it away. “There’s still five pilots here Hunk. We’ve got the advantage of versatility.”

“And he has the advantage of sustainable quintessence.” Keith charged Red’s ion beam, only clipping Eviltron in the shoulder. 

“So? We’re not doing THAT bad.” Lance tried to play the optimism up, even with a mech sword crashing down on them.

Pidge braced Green against the blade. “If we keep at it like this, either it’s a fight ‘til one of us, or both of us, drop!” She chanced a glance out her window, looking for an opening in Alfor’s defense—

“...Are the Malteans retreating?”

The team looked out their own windows.

Pods flew in formation behind the Maltean base, flying into hangars. Lights blinked in coordination; different signals to alert those outside the ship. On the other side of it, a blue light glowed in space; the start of a Teleduv jump.

“I mean, they could have offered to help,” Hunk complained.

Shiro wasn’t bothered. If the Malteans could find a way to reconstruct their lives without Alfor, that was fine. “If they stay, Alfor could siphon off more power from the ship. If they get out of here, he’s cut off.”

 

\--

 

Alfor watched his radar. His ship, his people, were turning their tails and running. Abandoning him. He sneered, watching the dots on the screen fly away, the energy of a Teleduv portal popping into existence. 

“It seems I’ll need to address my peoples’ loyalty in my new order. 

He raised an arm out to the side, a beam charging in the maw of the hand.

 

\--

 

Voltron watched as Alfor prepared an ion beam at the ship.

“He’s gonna shoot them down!” Keith shouted.

Lance looked all over his dash. Lights and schematics cluttered his screens. Different forms and weapons on Voltron crowded his mind. What could they use that was quick? That was unassuming—

Lance perked. “Shiro! Activate flash wings!”

Shiro took a tic to recognize the order, and only one more to comply, jamming his bayard in the ignition.

Lights flared in the cockpits, then traveled to the back of Voltron. As Alfor charged his beam, Voltron sent all its power to its back. Before Eviltron could release its beam on the Maltean base, a blinding flash exploded out of the wings, lighting up space, erasing the stars. The paladins couldn’t see it, but Alfor flinched, the light too bright for his eyes.

Eviltron’s beam died, the mech staying still. The paladins watched the Maltean ship, flying through the wormhole, and disappearing on the other side. A little burst of light, and the portal was gone.

There was a brief pause; a moment to let the event sit, until—

“Wait he’s stunned!” Lance shouted. “Pidge! Keith! Double swords now!”

Keith and Pidge were knocked out of their stupors. Pidge rammed her bayard in the ignition, while Keith clicked his once more. A light enveloped around Voltron’s hands. They flashed, and the twin blades shone to life. 

Lance brought the blades up in an X, then thrust them down onto Eviltron—

The blades were met with another one, Eviltron anticipating the move. The bot parried the blades, knocking Voltron back. Another flash, and Eviltron disappeared. 

Pidge slammed her fist. “He’s reality jumping again!” 

Lance cursed, wishing he’d done a little more damage to Alfor’s alchemy back in the astral plane. “Keep an eye out for him, and avoid the space-scars.”

“Kinda hard when he just pops anywhere he wants, and can kick us into those things.”

“Hunk, just stay focused. We can do this,” Keith assured him.

“We should get an attack ready. Maybe another flash bomb.” Shiro thought Lance’s idea would’ve worked the first time, but also wondered how many more tricks they could pull.

Flash. Eviltron punched Voltron in the side of the head. All five paladins punched their gears, making sure they didn’t go anywhere near the space-scar again. Flash. Eviltron disappeared. Flash. Eviltron blasted a beam above Voltron’s head, with no time for Pidge to bring out the shield, plummeting them downward. Flash. The mech vanished. 

Keith grunted. “We need something!”

Lance groaned. His thoughts were torn with trying to stop Alfor’s attack, and how to stop his overall plans of reality bending. Hard to do both while getting knocked like a ping pong ball. 

An idea sparked in Lance’s mind. “Keith! I need you to—“

He didn’t finish. Eviltron flashed into existence right in front of Voltron. Alfor’s robot had sheathed its sword, and thrust its arms outward. The two beast heads clamped onto Voltron’s forearms, keeping the blades at a safe distance. Eviltron boosted its thrusters, pushing Voltron back. They stopped as the bot jammed Voltron into another space-scar.

The paladins yelled, their bodies jarring under the pressure of the distorted space-time. Each one felt as though they were being crushed and stretched all at once. Their minds played tricks with deja vu, memory loss, and premonition, the altered time screwing with their perception. 

Hunk used whatever strength he could to get a single sentence out,  “He’s got us trapped here!”

Keith’s arms felt like lead and jelly. “We’ve got to move!”

Lance wanted nothing more. “I’m...trying!”

 

\--

 

Alfor watched as Voltron jerked and shifted in his grip. The other mech looked pained and tortured, the distorted space colliding with its quintessence. Alfor jeered, looking forward to being rid of these pests once and for all.

He punched in some codes, and a small tray opened up to his right. A headpiece with three prongs laid in the tray. If Pidge were there to see it, she would tell the team it looked near identical to the mind-meld devices she reprogrammed with Coran.

Alfor set the device on his head, the lights blinking on. He looked out to Voltron, then punched more keys in. Engines hummed, getting ready for a surge of power.

“Now is the time that I rewrite the cosmos.”

He shut his eyes.

 

\--

 

Just add insult to injury.

Eviltron’s arms and hands glowed bright red. As they did, Voltron became enveloped in the same light, then it traveled to the hands of the evil mech.

While Lance’s powers were gone, his stomach, along with the Black Lion, was telling him something. “He’s...he’s draining Voltron’s energy!”

Keith tried to shift his controls, tried to do something to stop Alfor, but his arms jerked back into place, like a magnet meeting its pole. “We’ve got to stop him!”

“What’s that?!” Hunk cried.

A white light appeared above them. It shone like a sun, circling like a portal overhead. Looking around, Lance saw the stars blink out. Almost as if their light was going to the portal. Space dust and cosmic clouds in the distance shifted and expanded wildly. Lance thought it looked like an image underwater.

Pidge gasped. “He’s warping reality! He using...Voltron’s quintessence to shape his own universe!”

Shiro grunted. “What’s going to happen Pidge?!”

“I don’t know! The man is playing god! Our bodies could be ripped apart or squeezed into nothingness or just plain dead!”

Lance gripped his controls tight. He couldn’t let this be it. After everything they’d been through--that HE’D been through. He couldn’t let Alfor destroy the reality where things were starting to look up for himself. Where Lance might have a chance to move on.

The light flashed brighter, and began to descend all around them. 

The paladins vibrated in their seats. The pressure built, threatening to shake them into hyperdrive.

Hunk cried, “I can’t feel anything!”

Pidge screamed, “My head is going to split!”

Shiro shouted, “Keep it together!”

The light made its way to the cockpits, washing the paladins in light, blotting them out.

Keith struggled to keep his mind. “L...Lance!” He was swallowed by the light.

Lance could feel his friends’ presence fade. His own head felt like it was in a blender, making a smoothie of anxiety, defeat, and just plain fed up.

“Guys!” Lance shouted. 

He cracked open an eye, blinded. The last thought on his mind was hoping, praying, his friends would be okay. 

“P...please…”

The light took over.

And then flashed into darkness.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok NOW raise your hand if you hate me.  
> Again, another episode I loved writing, this one came out like waterfalls I was so happy.  
> Check me out on tumblr and twitter @hoelko and instagram @hoelko_doods for the poster and clips!  
> Until next time on season 9!


	13. Picture Perfect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The paladins get what they want. Lance finds what he needs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I have to say this, just in case:  
> I wrote this episode LOOOONG before I watched s3 of She-ra. Like, months before. So just be aware of that.   
> Otherwise, let's see what happened to our paladins...

“Come on, dude. You can’t sleep in. Time to get up.”

Lance squeezed his eyes, opening them slowly. He was still really tired, and his bed felt really, REALLY soft, but he obeyed the voice. An orange glow entered the room, making everything look cozy and warm. Lance’s eyes focused.

His room was mildly messy, with just the right amount of chaos. Books stacked in the corner. Homework was littered on the table, half finished. To-go boxes from the cafeteria stuffed the garbage can. One laundry basket was neatly filled, the other with clothes splayed around it.

Lance looked up to the voice that called him. Hunk stood by his bed, dressed in his orange Garrison uniform, a bag at his back and a hand on his hip. He eyed Lance as if to say “really?”

“I mean, you can be late if you want, I’d just rather have the alibi that I told you to wake up so Iverson doesn’t get mad at me.”

Lance rubbed the sleep out of his eye. “Wh...What?”

Hunk rolled his eyes. “Okay. I’ll leave you be to do your routine rush. But I’m going to grab breakfast. Meet you in the cafeteria. I hear they’re doing burritos today and  _ geugh _ ...I’m not expecting much.”

Hunk turned and exited, the door whooshing after him.

Lance took another look around the room. Half asleep, his mind bounced around on what happened before he woke up. He could have sworn he was just doing something important. Something epic and dangerous. But, it didn’t come to mind. Lance figured it must have been a pretty intense dream, especially since his chest felt swelled, lingering emotions from sleep still churning away.

Lance swung his legs over his bed. He slapped his face lightly, waking himself up, and walked over to his dresser, finding his uniform for the day.

 

\--

 

Students hustled and bustled in the hallways, making their way to classes, activities, and most importantly, the cafeteria.

Lance entered to see tables crammed with students and young teachers, chowing down on various breakfast items. Well, mostly cereal, as the breakfast burritos were steadily becoming an unpopular selection very quickly.

Lance caught sight of Hunk’s back in a chair. Walking over, Lance noticed the smaller student across from him, chatting away while Hunk (bravely) chewed on his burrito.

“All I’m saying, I can find the tools, Hunk. Just get me in the kitchen, get the ingredients, and we can do some real good for the future of our stomachs.” Pidge reasoned.

Hunk swallowed his bite, grimacing. “Yeah, and get caught for tampering with Garrison equipment. We’d be expelled.”

“No. Once they saw how we’d be improving both the nutrition AND dining experience here, they’d reward us with offering services to the school or— oh! Hey, Lance.”

Lance waved, sitting down next to Hunk. Hunk pushed him a foil wrapped cylinder. “Not as bad as I thought, but we can get better ones at the mini mart a town over.”

Lance opened his up, taking a cautious bite. It wasn’t upchuck worthy, but he did grab the hot sauce on the table to give it some kind of flavor. 

Pidge glared at him from across the table. “So? Bets on today?”

“What?”

“You know. Are we tieing today? Or will I finally get my crown back?”

Lance raised a brow. Hunk rubbed Lance’s arm with his elbow.

“Still asleep there, buddy? Test grades come back today. I’d think you’d want to know what you got after two straight weeks of cramming.”

“Oh. Uhh. Yeah.”

It was Pidge’s turn to raise a brow. “You okay?”

Lance shook his head. “I’m cool! I’m fine! Just woke up with a jumbled head is all.”

Hunk burped. “Well, after studying that hard, I’m surprised your brain isn’t jelly.”

Pidge was about to concur, but her eyes lit up, looking behind the guys, waving.

A voice echoed above Lance, soft and proper, sending a chill down his spine. “You wouldn’t be talking about that quantum theory test we just took, would you?”

Lance turned and looked up.

Her hair was in a bun, like it normally was. It’s silver sheen glistened in the LED lights, which Lance could never tell if it was platinum blonde or if she just dyed it that way. He cheeks always had that rosy blush that Lance would imagine glowed from time to time. Her eyes sparkled like a spring, crystal blue with shades that danced in the light. Her...ears? Lance blinked wondering why he would be thinking about Allura‘s ears, since they were just the normal, rounded ears she had every day.

Allura sat next to Lance. Instinctually, he reached over and wrapped an arm around her neck, Allura leaning into the gesture. Lance was actually surprised how easy it was to do that, especially since, he’d done it plenty of times before.

_ Right _ ?

Pidge nodded. “I tutored students on this material. I know I have it the bag, I’m just wondering if your darling BF here was able to keep up this time.”

Allura jeered playfully. “Oh, I’m certain Lance aced this one, like he always does. Give him some credit, Pidge.”

“Oh, I do. I just know I’m in it to win it, and I won’t be sharing valedictorian by the end of our school careers.”

Lance smirked. “It’s alright Pidge. We won’t have to share. Salutatorian suits you perfectly.”

Pidge fumed. The others chuckled, Hunk coughing up some of his burrito.

“Still, it was some tough material. Even I had some difficulty understanding it all.” Allura clasped her hands together.

“What? You? You could easily beat Pidge at anything if you crammed like I did. Allura, you just look at the cover of a textbook and you got the entire thing memorized.”

Allura smiled, fluttering Lance’s heart. She shrugged. “Even so. Some of those concepts stumped me. Especially  the ones pertaining to alternate and parallel realities.”

Lance’s eyes peeled, double taking Allura. “What was that?”

Allura gave Lance a knowing smile, but Hunk spoke up, swallowing his burrito.

“Yeah, dude. We were having such a hard time with the theories about relative universes, if there are any, and how reality could split off into multiple branches based on the Big Bang. I’ll tell ya, my head was twisting the whole night.”

Lance didn’t remember too much about the test, but what Allura mentioned just seemed so familiar…

Pidge stretched. “Yup! But, like I said. You guys won’t have to worry. In THIS reality, I’ll take that perfect score myself.”

Hunk deadpanned. “Last week you tied with Lance AND Allura. You might be the smartest, but we can all take tests Pidge.” She shrugged. 

Lance still couldn’t get the thought out of his head. Absentmindedly, he raised his head, looking around at the other tables. He scanned faces, either eating or conversing, but not the one he—

_ Wait. What? _

“What’s wrong Lance?”

Lance turned. Allura was looking at him, a little concerned. Lance shook his head again.

“Oh! Nothing! Nothing. Just...thought I saw someone.”

He didn’t, but for some reason, he thought he might see a familiar face if he looked around at the other tables...

The morning bell chimed, signaling the ten minute timer to get to class. Chairs groaned and squealed as students rose, heading to the door. The quad squad rose too, Pidge still harping on Hunk about her test-taking abilities, Hunk ruffling her hair as they walked. Allura stepped in place next to Lance, weaving her hand into his, naturally. Lance took another quick glance back in the cafeteria, every table empty.

 

\--

 

“Well, I think you all better look to Pidge or Lance if you need tutors. Two perfect scores in the class.” 

Mr. W passed back the test papers, Lance looking at the one-hundred at the top of his page. A few tables down, Pidge seethed, her title still in jeopardy. Mr. W passed back around to the next row.

“And quite possibly Allura. One point shy of perfect. But that was just a misspelling. But very important in theory to get them correct.”

Allura took her test paper, playfully snapping her fingers in an “oh shoot” sort of way. Mr. W proceeded to the front desk. 

“Next test is in a couple of weeks, but it’ll be an easy one. I know you’ll all be focused on your practical exams in the simulator. Well...maybe all but one.”

He quirked a smile in Lance’s direction. Lance blushed as classmates either groaned or hooted. Hunk rubbed Lance’s shoulders behind him. 

“Yup! Ace pilot right here’s gonna break the record for sure! Right man?”

“Uhh, y—yeah.”

Lance looked down at his paper. Honestly, he couldn’t remember being this good in school. Theories and material used to confuse and frustrate him all the time. But, then he remembered Pidge and Hunk. He must’ve caught the scholarly bug from them, getting better. And break the pilot’s record? Was Lance always that good at flying? He must be. A shaky start, but, he was sure he’d flown faster than most of his classmates. Then there was—

Allura looked at him, a sympathetic smile pulling her lips. Lance returned it, a nod to his head. He looked to his other side and out the window.

What felt really weird, was the empty desk right next to him.

 

\--

 

“Come on sweetie! Today’s the day!”

“If you don’t get up, we’re going to space without you!”

“ _ Rrrruff _ !”

Pidge felt a huge weight jump her, knocking her out of sleep. She gasped, scrambling upright. Rubbing the sleep out her eyes, she blinked them open.

Her dad and Matt were standing over her bed, eyes bright and smiles gleaming. Draped over her legs was  Bae Bae, who proceeded to jump at Pidge again, licking her even more awake with slobbery kisses. Pidge pushed him down.

“Wha—Dad, what’s—“

“Come on kiddo, time to get ready.”

“Ready?”

“Aw, so cute. Probably so excited she can’t even believe it’s happening.”

Pidge quirked her brow, absolutely dumbfounded to what her family was saying. In the back of her mind she was trying to remember the dream she just had, but they’d woken her up so abruptly that she forgot everything. 

Sam laid a hand on her back. “Today’s the day, hon. We’re going up to Kerberos.”

Pidge blinked, surprised at first. But then the cogs clicked.

That’s right. She was going up to space. Her family was going on the big mission to Pluto’s moon, Kerberos. She was confused as to how she could have forgotten. 

A small smile grew on Pidge’s lips.

 

\--

 

“Sir! The sustenance vehicle has arrived!”

Hunk smacked his face on the table, waking up and nearly falling out of his chair. 

“HABASAPABABA WHA—“

“Sustenance. Vehicle. Arrived.”

Hunk looked over. Vrepit Sal has his thumb pointed to the door. An engine hum echoed outside. Sustenance vehicle? He probably meant delivery truck. Hunk sighed.

“Oh. Okay. Thanks Sal.”

Sal walked out the door.

Hunk looked down at the table where he was sitting. Blueprints and pencils were spread out on the counter. Some kind of plans for a food machine. Notes like “sustainable” and “affordable” were etched in the margins. He looked around. He was actually sitting at the bar of a sparkling restaurant. The atmosphere felt like icehouse mixed with fancy Italian. Twenty tables or so dotted the floor, the chairs flipped up over them showing they were closed. Hunk sat in awe of it for a moment. But then remembered. 

_ Oh yeah, this is my place.  _

“Getting closer?”

Hunk turned. Shay stepped out of the kitchen doors, an apron at her waist. 

“Oh, uhh, yeah. Yeah I think so.”

Shay stepped over, looking at the pages. “Kind of hard to try and end universal hunger AND run a business. I am shocked you can juggle between two consuming activities.”

Hunk smiled. “Well call me a carny. ‘Cause I’m pretty good at juggling.”

Shay giggled. Hunk smiled back. Of course. He’d been working on his line of products to help people fight hunger. Tools to let people eat good food for pennies on the dime. A mashing of his culinary expertise with his engineering prowess. 

Shay righted herself. “Well, lunch service won’t start itself. I’ll continue preparing for the rush.”

“Thanks Shay.”

He watched as she went back into the kitchen. He turned, looking back down at the pages. He lowered his brow, sure there was something else on his mind that he was forgetting…

 

\--

 

A soft alarm woke him up, letting him know seven in the morning came faster than he thought.

Shiro rolled over and turned off his phone. He groaned, sitting up and stretching. Opening his eyes, he saw the warm orange glow of the morning peeking through the window. He looked down to the end of the room. A suitcase sat unfolded on the dresser. Clothes both lay on the floor and were folded neatly inside. Hanging on a coat rack by a hanger, was a black suit. 

He looked up to the standing mirror on the opposite wall. He was tired. His hair, black as always, was a rat’s nest on his head. His face, not a blemish on it, was a little rosy, but other than that, clean as usual.

A knock on his door startled him.

“Come in.”

The door opened.

A man stood in the entryway. He was in a simple white shirt and dark jeans. His skin was coppery, maybe a little olive to it. Shiro looked up. The man’s head was covered in thick, chestnut hair. A little lower, two nut brown eyes were shielded by a pair of half-moon glasses. He was holding a couple steaming mugs. 

“Well, good morning sleepyhead.” He walked over to the bed, sitting down on the edge of it. He offered Shiro one of the mugs. Shiro accepted, looking inside to see a cup of green tea. 

“Figured you didn’t need too much caffeine today. Don’t need any jittery feet.” Adam took a sip from his mug. “Oh, and I know there’s something about not seeing the betrothed until the aisle, but I’ve never been a stickler for superstition.”

Shiro looked at him, a little mystified. Like, how this image seemed so right, so obvious, but something was clouding over it.

Adam looked up from his drink, then chuckled. “What? Prefer my morning look to what I’ll be wearing later?” He reached over, touching Shiro’s right hand. Shiro jumped, not expecting the touch. Adam’s hand was warm against his own. Shiro could feel it. Adam laced his fingers through Shiro’s.

“Not that I’ve ever been the sentimental type, but I'm happy.” He looked up. “Happy that we’re doing this.”

Shiro watched their hands, then met Adam’s gaze. He smiled.

“I...I am too.”

Adam stood, collecting his mug. Stealing a quick peck on Shiro’s cheek, he walked to the door. Before he left, he turned.

“I’ll leave you to get ready then. Next time I see you, it’d better be dressed to the nines down a long runway.”

He shut the door, leaving Shiro alone in the room. 

Shiro looked back at his reflection. At the hanging suit. His left hand drifted over to his right, giving a light squeeze.

Yes, this was how things are supposed to be.

_ Weren’t they? _

 

\--

 

“Come on Lance, you’re almost there!”

Lance punched the thrusters. He shifted the back panels. He watched the altitude monitors and engine gauges. Finally, he clicked the overdrive. He shot off, like a bullet, through the “air”. He didn’t see the final speed, focused only on the screen in front of him, but he heard shouts and cheers from outside.

The screen darkened and the door opened. Lance stepped out of the simulator, right into a Hunk bear-hug.

“You did it man! You broke the record!”

He set Lance down. Pidge slapped his back. “Knew you had it in you.”

Lance brushed his neck, a little embarrassed. A hand to his shoulder made him turn.

“I always believed you were great.” Allura’s eyes gleamed. Lance blushed slightly, a wonky smile stretching his face. 

Looking around the room, he saw classmates and teachers either clapping or discussing other things. He caught sight of Griffin, looking a little disgruntled, and Rizavi patting his back with feigned sympathy. He saw Iverson discussing with Kincade and Leifsdottir, Lance could hear mention of having an additional member added to a special program.

Lance’s eyes still kept looking. For what? He wasn’t sure. He just thought his eyes still might land on something...familiar. 

Another hug to his midriff knocked him out of it, Pidge gripping his center tight in a playful hug. He smiled, feeling loved and appreciated at the center of all the attention.

 

\--

 

Lance walked down the hall of the Garrison. People he passed by either waved or giggled or blushed. Mostly, he just waved back at them. He didn’t have a destination, he just found himself walking.

His mind felt fuzzy. Like...everything that was going on today was natural. It was how everything had always been. But something just...wasn’t clicking quite right. Like there was something he was missing and couldn’t place a finger on it—

“Hey!”

Lance turned and nearly had a heart attack.

Jogging up to him, hair tuft bouncing, stormy eyes glistening, a smile brighter than the sun shining, was his hero. The best pilot at the Garrison. 

Shiro.

“Hey there. Meant to catch you after that simulation run. Lance, right?”

He raised his hand. Lance eyed it. He raised his own, a little hesitantly, but clutched Shiro’s, shaking it.

“It’s—it’s an honor to—to meet you—“

“Haha, at ease cadet. It’s alright.” They broke their hands apart. “I have to say I’m impressed. Not every day that your record gets broken by an underclassman.”

Lance froze, realization dawning on his face. “I am. SO. Sorry. I didn’t even realize—you’re like THE best flyer—I was just—“

Shiro patted him lightly on the shoulder. Lance relaxed a smidge. 

“Just means it’s time for the young ones to start their climb. Happy to see someone as enthusiastic as you putting passion into becoming a pilot. I’ll be keeping an eye out for you, Lance. You’ve got a lot of promise.”

He patted Lance’s shoulder again, then passed him, walking down the hall. 

“Keep your scores up, and I’ll see about getting you into my prep block next semester. Might even get you into a plane.”

Shiro waved from behind, Lance watching slack jaw in awe as Shiro rounded the corner. 

Lance deflated. Deflated like a torn balloon. His HERO. The BEST pilot and BEST person (well, one of the best, Lance had a few good others on that list). But the pride of the Garrison had singled LANCE out of everyone! Lance did a little jig, delight radiating through his body. He couldn’t wait to break the news to Hunk and Pidge. Allura would probably just congratulate him. And he was so eager to tell—

Lance stopped, the thought on the tip of his mind-tongue. He went through his friends again. Hunk. Pidge. Allura. There…there wasn’t anyone else.

So why did he feel like there should be?

 

\--

 

Lance opened the door to his dorm. He found Hunk at his desk, typing away at his computer. Pidge sat on his bed, scrolling through her phone, giggling if she came across a cat video. Allura sat neatly on Lance’s bed, reading a book. Lance walked to the center of the room, Pidge and Hunk looking up to greet him, both smiling. Allura kept her nose in the pages.

“Hey, uhh. Can I ask you guys something?”

Hunk turned back to the computer. “Sure man, what’s up?”

Lance gripped the bottom of his uniform, twisting it. “It’s always been just the four of us, right? I keep feeling we used to have one more person in our group.”

Pidge chuckled, this time at Lance’s comment. “I think that’s actually a thing. You count all the people you know and you think you forget someone. But nope. Just us. Well, unless you mean when Matt tags along on our city trips. But other than that, it’s been the four crusaders.”

Lance frowned, walking over and sitting on his bed. He looked over at the book that Allura was engrossed with. The title read  _ Born Free _ . 

Lance looked back up. “I guess I just feel like, I’m kinda going unopposed here. Like...I’m doing really, REALLY well right now.”

Hunk swiveled in his chair. “Dude, you’ve always been good at school. Good grades, great flying scores. I mean, the only one you really have any trouble with is tieing with Pidge on tests,” Hunk raised his hand to hide his voice, “but honestly, I think she’s slacking.” Pidge perked up, frowning with annoyance. 

Lance had a hard time believing he could be that attentive in class, especially with how unfocused and darting his mind had been lately. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m just not that motivated like I used to be…”

“Perhaps you need a drive.”

Lance’s head shot up, looking at Allura.

Her head was covered by the book, but she lowered it slowly, giving him a smile. 

“Maybe you need something to push you. A goal, or maybe a role model.”

Lance watched her, eyes wide with wonder. He was a little curious. Why would she say that? What made her say—

“Already covered, Allura. We all know Lance has got the biggest dude-crush on Shiro. If there’s anyone to be like, it’s him.”

Lance’s head snapped to Pidge, face back in her phone. He lowered his head. She was right...kind of. Lance did look up to Shiro, and wanted to be just like him.

But.

What Allura said still knocked around in the back of his mind. 

 

\--

 

The Holts sat at the table, munching away at their lunch. Bae Bae had his nose just barely on the table, catching whiffs of chicken curry and rice. 

Pidge pushed a carrot with her fork. She looked up at her family, yapping and laughing away. Matt showed off a big smile.

“I mean, who could ever imagine an entire family going to space together?! I think it’ll be one for the history books.”

Colleen sipped her tea, a little snark to her words. “Well, almost all the family, as you’re leaving your mother behind to worry about you all.”

Matt gulped, his mother’s judging glare melting him on the spot.

Sam only laughed. “What WILL be for the history books is putting the youngest pilot and scientist ever into space.” He looked right at Pidge. “Everyone will want to know what you discover out there, sweetie. I can’t tell you how proud I am for all you’ve worked for.”

Pidge smiled sheepishly, ducking her head slightly. “Thanks Dad...I’m just still surprised that the Garrison is letting me go. Especially all the way to Kerberos.”

“Yes,” Colleen interjected, “all the way to Pluto.” Her motherly unease was enough to unsettle the entire table. Sam put a hand on her arm, trying to settle his wife.

“But really though,” Matt offered, “it took forever for Iverson to come around. But I think what stumped him was telling him you were smarter than me or Dad combined.”

Everyone laughed. Bae Bae even barked, but he was probably just begging for some table scraps.

Pidge looked around at her family. She was going to do it. She was going into space to explore the universe. She would be together with her family to do it.

So…

Why did that seem a little off?

 

\--

 

Hunk watched from the bar, polishing glasses. Sal was wiping off tables, hurrying to finish so he could start on the floors. Shay sat on one of the barstools, folding napkins with silverware. 

Hunk looked over at her. “You think I’m doing too much?”

Shay looked up. “Well, you have only been cleaning those glasses. I don’t not think that is a difficult task.”

Hunk perked, then shook his head. “No! I mean—I guess? I’m just wondering if it seems like a lot. Working a restaurant. Making time to build machines for food processing. On top of diplomatic dinners for different planets.”

Shay smiled and shrugged. “Well, you haven’t been too involved with that last one, since many planets have already found peace. Not many need your diplomacy meals anymore.”

Hunk looked up at her, a little baffled. He...guessed...they DIDN’T need those fancy party meals. Most of the universe had come together in harmony. So why did he feel the need to still organize them?

“Besides,” Shay continued, “you have been able to do most of these projects all on your own. I don’t think it is too much. I find it commendable.”

Hunk shrugged somberly. He couldn’t help but feel like...he shouldn’t be THAT versatile. At least not without loads of stress and anxiety. But, Shay said he’d done it.

_ IS doing it _ , he corrected in his mind.

Sal spritzed another shower of cleaner onto a table, wiping up the dust and grime.

 

\--

 

Shiro stood at the dresser, looking at himself in the mirror. He was fiddling with a violet tie over his lavender shirt, fingers slowly and meticulously folding and wrapping the fabric into a knot. Satisfied with his work, he dropped his hands to the side. He looked back up at his face, bringing a hand up to touch his chin, observing just how smooth it was. He let it travel up higher, lightly pulling on his hair, wondering if he should try a color change.

Another knock on his door turned him around. This one didn’t wait for approval, and Matt Holt crashed through the door, hair slicked back and dressed in a suit, a floral usher’s pin at his breast pocket. 

“Hey! You getting ready?! Everyone’s waiting and getting VERY hungry for the reception!”

Shiro laughed, somehow very calm despite being the one everyone was waiting on. “They’ll get their cake and eat it soon enough. I don’t think the groom is ever considered late at his own wedding.”

“True. But doesn’t mean people won’t remember it.” Matt looked Shiro once over. “You ready to do this?”

Shiro nodded, a little lopsided. “Y...Yeah. I think so.”

Matt leaned against the door frame. “Well I hope you are. Not every day that your senior officer asks you to be an usher at their wedding. Have to say, maybe beats flying into space by  _ juuuuuust _ a hair.”

Shiro turned, quirking a brow. “What was that?”

Matt raised his hands, as if in defeat. “Just saying, happy I could be here. Some people might like risking everything for a crazy adventure. But I think settling down, living your life, that’s sounds pretty cool.”

Shiro frowned. He was cool with it. In fact, he was ecstatic. But, Matt’s words twisted the wrong way under his skin…

Matt yelped as his shoulder got jerked from behind him. A woman in a cerulean spaghetti-strap dress shook Matt. Her beach water eyes glistened behind a pair of glasses.

“Hey! We need you downstairs to help with seating. And you,” Veronica pointed to Shiro, “just don’t take too long. You might be the blushing boy but people ARE waiting.”

Veronica yanked Matt out of the door, leaving Shiro to hear her reprimand Matt about abandoning his ushering duties just for a quick chat.

Shiro looked back to the mirror. Everything was planned and ready. Everything was perfect. All he had to do was go through with it.

That’s all he  _ had _ to do…

 

\--

 

Lance was going through the motions.

He got a test handed back to him, a perfect score as usual (Pidge fuming a few seats down). He got another top record in the simulator, everyone cheering around him (Griffin sulking in the corner). He walked the halls, people passing and giving him hi-fives, waves, and greetings. All for him.

So why was it so...tiring?

He got called into Iverson’s office. He was only half paying attention to what he was saying, but Lance got the gist that he was being offered a seat in the advanced placement program. He’d be working with upperclassmen and even actual pilots, learning how to fly and maneuver in an actual jet. By the end of the semester, they might even put him in one. Everything Lance could have ever wanted.

...Did he want it?

 

\--

 

Lance leaned on his arm, looking out the window of the classroom. White clouds rolled by a bright blue sky. The red of the desert offered a shocking disparity, one Lance found his eyes getting lost in. He was so engrossed with the scene that he didn’t even hear the bell ring, everyone getting up and clearing out of the room for the day.

A tap on his shoulder perked his attention.

“Are you alright, Lance?”

He looked up. Allura was clutching a red and blue textbook, giving him a concerned smile. Her eyes sparkled with the light from outside. Looking at her, Lance felt so full.

_ Or… _

He stood, looking at his feet. He took a deep breath in, then locked his eyes on her. “Allura, you’d tell me if you noticed anything...off, with me, right?”

Allura quirked a brow. “Do you feel ‘off’?”

Lance sputtered. “Wha—I mean. No not really, anyway. Just—I mean I’m cool as a cucumber! Everything’s all good and I’m good and—“

Allura giggled, and Lance stopped rambling on. Her laughter calmed him, letting him know he didn’t have to be so uptight.

“Lance, you are so assured and honest. Even when you doubt yourself, your instincts always lead you to the answer you’re looking for. If you feel something’s wrong, then something must be wrong.”

Lance backed a bit, feeling guilty. He didn’t THINK anything was wrong, but he couldn’t shake the feeling. That feeling of being uncomfortable in your seat, squirming around trying to find a good position, when really, you were just uncomfortable in your own skin.

Lance pursed his lips. “I guess...I just feel like...there’s something I’m missing. Like I can’t place it, but I just feel—“

“Incomplete?”

Lance’s face whipped to Allura. Her eyes were all-knowing, her brow dipped slightly, a little mischievously. She held her gaze on him for a long time.

Shrugging, Lance sighed. “So? What do you think I should do?”

“Well, obviously find something to fill the hole,” she said matter-of-factly. Lance deadpanned rolling his eyes. Allura only smiled.

“Okay. And how do I DO that?”

Allura shrugged. “Just be patient. I’m sure the answer will come to you.” She leaned in towards him, like she was about to share a secret. “Maybe some fresh air would help. I hear there’s a senior who leaves the keys to their hoverbike in the ignition down in the garage. Why not play the rebel for once?”

She winked at him. Lance blinked in surprise at the suggestion, his mouth parted slightly. He watched her, stunned by her confidence and beauty. He noticed particularly her cheeks, rosy as always, but also...glowing?

Allura turned, heading toward the door. Before she exited, she looked back.

“Stay safe out there.”

And she left.

Lance stood for a good minute, internalizing what Allura had told him. Why he felt so confused. What he could do about it. What he wanted to do about it. Lance hardened his gaze, and marched out of the classroom. First thing’s first, he wanted some comfortable clothes.

 

\--

 

Whaddya know. Some senior was that forgetful.

Lance turned the key in the ignition, revving the engine of the bike, and shooting out across the desert. He was happy he’d changed into an undershirt and unbuttoned denim blazer, the material much cooler for being out in the afternoon sun.

He flew out into the fields and prairies, watching the plateaus and rock spires pass by. While he’d always be more accustomed to the beaches and tropical forests back home in Cuba, Lance had learned to appreciate the expanse of dirt and dust. On clear days, the red and blue of the ground and sky made a perfect line of contrast, like a picture perfect desktop background. His favorite days were the stormy ones, watching black clouds roll by, lightning hitting the earth and seeing the sky light up with life. The best time, however, was watching a sunset sink over the horizon. Lance would climb up to the tallest cliff he could, lay out a towel, and sit and watch the colors shift, the sun casting shadows and highlights over the hills and rocks, until nothing was left but the infinite darkness of the sky, dotted with sparkling stars. Lance always went up alone, but in his memory, he could feel a phantom weight that sat next to him. One that...he didn’t think was ever Allura.

The cliffs started to climb higher as Lance drove, getting further out to the canyons on the edge of the desert. While he had no real destination, he felt himself getting pulled further and further out into the wilderness, like some invisible chord was tugging him along, getting strummed every once in awhile, teasing him.

He raised a brow, seeing a building in the distance. Getting closer, he was shocked to see a small shack standing in the middle of nowhere. 

Lance slowed down, stopping next to the house. Tools and parts littered one side of it. A potted cactus sat on the front porch. Lance got off his bike and walked up to the house. Wiping the glass, he looked through a window. Papers and news clippings were pinned to a giant cork board. Pictures were connected via red strings and marker lines. Books were stacked on a coffee table, trash surrounding them. Lance thought either a paranoid  hobo lived in this place, or maybe this was Iverson’s getaway house.

Lance turned and looked back out to the desert. While still early in the afternoon, he could see the sun start to dip in the sky. His eyes lowered to the ground, and he knit his brows. A trail of separated dirt stretched out over the ground, leading out to the edges of the cliffs. Lance recognized the marks as hoverbike tracks. And from the way the dirt blew up in the wind, they were fresh. 

Lance wondered who might live in a shack like this so far out in the desert, and what they’d be doing going out into the canyons. His curiosity got the better of him. 

He hopped on his bike, kicked it into gear, and set off to follow the trail.

 

\--

 

Lance slowed his bike as he approached the edge of the cliff. 

Looking out, the canyon wound and curved with a river streaming through it. Rocks stuck out in funky places, some broken off into platforms and spikes. Lance could see the layers of earth on the opposite cliff faces. Thousands of years of sediment were built up, showing how long time had passed on the planet. 

Lance looked down in the chasm closer, then blinked hard, shocked.

He saw an open cave at the base of one of the cliffs. Parked next to it, a red hoverbike sat at the entrance. Disappearing into the cave, Lance caught a quick glimpse of a red jacket, flapping before going further into the tunnel.

“Well that’s not suspicious.”

Lance frowned. He should really turn around. He should go tell somebody. But...he didn’t want to. Something deep inside him was telling him to keep on going. That if he did...he might just find something…

Lance revved his engines, and followed the path down to the base of the canyon.

 

\--

 

Lance parked his bike next to the red one, starting his trek into the cave. The wind blowing echoed on the walls, sending a howl traveling down the tunnel. Lance heard the dripping of water on the ground, noticing puddles lining the pathway inside. As he got deeper, he noticed scratches and scrapings in the rock. Closer inspection revealed markings, primal looking, of people in groups, and a large animal at the center. 

Lance walked further in, the light from the cave mouth getting dimmer. At the end, the tunnel dipped down sharply, almost like a slide. Lance gulped, calling whoever just entered the cave crazy if they actually went down that thing. He mustered his courage, took a deep breath, and stepped down carefully in the tunnel.

It was slick, Lance doing his best to go slow, but still had a mini heart attack each time he slipped a little too quickly. As the light died, he relied on his other senses, his hands feeling the walls for better grips, muscles tensing from the fear of falling too fast.

A new light opened up, and Lance saw a small drop at the end of the tunnel. He slowed his descent, then plopped down, landing low on bent knees. He stood slowly, looking up, and his face fell like a stone.

A gigantic cave opened up, the room the size of a small plane hangar. The walls curved upward like a dome, an opening in the ceiling letting some sunlight in and brightening the room. Water dripped from the top and landed in puddles on the ground, echoing loudly. But the biggest sight to see was thirty feet away.

Sitting down, at least four stories tall, maybe more, eyes staring right at him, was a humongous, robotic, blue lion. Lance gawked at just how MASSIVE it was, at least the size of a few fighter jets front to back. It was surrounded in an orb of blue light, protecting it like a forcefield.

Lance’s legs were jelly.  _ How did that thing even get IN here?! _ It must have been thousands of years old based on the sediments in the walls. But also  _ WHY _ was it here? Lance asked too many questions in his head that no one was going to answer. 

_ Or… _

Lance lowered his gaze to the ground. Sitting in front of the lion, was a boy. He had his back to Lance, hugging his legs up to his chest. Lance started to walk over, keeping his eyes focused on the lion, but noticing the other kid hadn’t heard Lance come in.

Getting closer, Lance saw the boy had a red and white jacket. Something was clipped to the back of his belt that Lance couldn’t see, and a pair of goggles were thrown next to him. He was crouching to hide his face, but Lance saw the distinct cut of his hair; choppy, and longer than most guys his age.

Lance stood behind the kid, really weirded out by how he hadn’t been noticed yet. Lance pouted. Mustering up some courage, he closed his hand into a fist, and bent over. Not too hard, Lance gave two quick knocks on the boy’s head. The boy yelped, scrambled up, and turned, an exasperated look on his face. Lance flinched, surprised by the violent outburst.

“Who are you?! What are you doing here?!”

“What is that thing?!” Lance keeping on topic.

The kid scoffed, looking to the side. Lance saw a pouty face with dark eyes. Purple? Violet? No. Definitely indigo.

“Nothing,” the boy said. “Just get out of here and forget what you saw.”

Lance deadpanned. “UHHHHH, yeah...Forget that I’m looking at a giant blue robot cat in the middle of a cave. Kinda hard to do that one, buddy.”

The boy’s eyes went sharp. With a quick move to his back, he brought out what was at his belt: a small dagger. Lance quickly changed his tune, holding his hands up.

“WHOAwhoawhoawhoawhoa easy! You want hush, I’ll give you hush! Lip is zipped!”

The kid huffed out a breath, then breathed in deep, calming himself. He sheathed his blade and turned, sitting back down. Lance raised his brow, taking note that he didn’t even apologize for pulling a knife on him. 

“Soooo...you gonna explain the big cat?”

The boy looked up at the lion, then sighed. “I found it. Or, my dad did. He protected it. Now I do.”

Lance was about to comment on that, but shut his lips before he said something that would bring the knife out again. Protect- _ ed _ .  _ Now I do. _

Lance got the idea, felt the pity, and let it go. 

“Alright, so you just let it sit here?”

“That’s all it does...at least for now…”

“Whaddya mean?”

The kid looked up at the beast. “I saw some Garrison scouts patrolling around here. Some got super close to the cave. Sooner or later, they’re gonna find this place, along with the lion.”

Lance frowned. “And that’s bad?”

The kid held his hands out, frustrated. “Who knows what they’ll do to it?! Weird tests. Dismantle it. Try to make weapons out of it. They’re not going to just leave it alone.” He sulked back into his lap. “This thing is here for a reason. I can feel it. It’s the only thing that’s given me any sign that...that something  _ important _ ...will finally happen…”

Lance looked down at the boy, his brow scrunched with understanding. 

This kid’s life was looking after this lion. Remembering the shack, Lance realized the only thing this kid probably saw on a daily basis was the lion. And he had so much passion to protect it, even if that meant hiding it from the Garrison. Lance could also understand how the guy felt. This whole time, Lance knew there was something missing. Or even, something just waiting to happen. Whatever this kid was waiting for, Lance could almost imagine waiting for the same thing.

The boy tilted his head. “Not like its gonna matter though.”

Lance perked. “Why?”

The kid sighed. “If they start poking around, there’s nothing I can do. They’ll find it and take it and...it’ll be gone...just like everyone else.”

Lance’s heart contracted. The pain in the boy’s voice was too much to take. He was giving up before the fight even started. Lance clenched his fists, blurting out the first thing in his mind. 

“I’ll help you.”

The kid’s head popped up, and he turned, standing up to meet Lance’s eyes.

“What?”

“I said I’ll help you.”

“Help...me?”

“Duh! I’ll help you protect your lion!”

The boy raised a brow. “You don’t even know me.”

Lance put a hand to his hip. “I know this thing is important to you. Plus the Garrison can be a bunch of jerks anyway. They don’t need something this cool.”

The boys eyelids sunk, unimpressed. “And you’re going to help...how?”

Lance offered one of his winning smirks, resting a finger gun at his chin. “Well I am known as one of the best shots in the class. I’m like a cool, ninja, sharpshooter with a rifle. I’d pop troops at their feet before they could take a step in here.”

The kid chuckled, a lopsided smile peeking at his cheeks. “Heh, are you joking?”

Lance sputtered and fumed. “I am NOT joking Mr. Broody Samurai! You just haven’t seen what I can do yet!”

The kid shook his head, resting a hand on his hip. Seriously, what was this guy’s deal?! One minute he was all knives and angst, next he’s all suave and snarky and why was Lance noticing all this?

“Then, I guess I’ll have to see. What you can do, I mean.”

Lance’s temper cooled. He watched the boy, looking back at him. Lance got a better look of his eyes, the indigo much brighter than he thought. Lance felt his smile crack, and gave a few chuckles himself. He held out a hand.

“The name’s Lance.”

The kid took it, giving Lance’s a shake. “I’m—“

“Oh don’t worry,” Lance found the words coming out of his mouth automatically. Mechanically. Instinctually. “I’d recognize that mullet anywhere.”

Their eyes both popped open, Lance’s words dawning on the boys.

Next to them, the lion roared out. The sound echoed in the chamber, shaking the rocks and making water drip down like rain. Its shield fell, revealing the full form of the robot. 

Lance looked at the boy. The boy looked back at Lance. They stared at each other, a shattering realization coming across both of their minds as they gripped each other’s hand.

Lance blinked, and he opened his eyes to pitch black darkness.

 

\--

 

Lance blinked again, opening his eyes to bright white. 

Around him was a plane of light. Clouds floated above, shifting colors like an opal. The air was foggy, but like if cotton candy could be fog, colored and fluffy. The ground was a crystalline mirror, both reflecting what was above, and refracting everything underneath it.

Lance saw all of this in his periphery, because his eyes were locked in front of him.

Lance was still holding his hand, except now it was gloved and gauntleted. His armor was scratched but otherwise clean. He wasn’t wearing his helmet, so Lance could see his hair brush his chin. A scar ran up his face to two, very shocked eyes.

Cosmic eyes.

“Lance?”

“Keith?!”

They both stepped in closer, desperately even. They released their hands only to grip each other’s shoulders, grounding them to the spot, letting them both know that the other wasn’t going to move.

Keith looked straight at Lance. “What—what happened? Where are we?”

Lance looked around, watching the whites shift with more colors. “I’m...I’m not sure. Whatever that was...it was weird.” 

They separated, looking around. Lance tried to make sense of their predicament, coming off of the random slice of life scenes he just saw versus the rumble and tumble of battle they’d been in moments ago. 

“I think...I think we were in other realities. Like...the realities where everything is perfect or what we want. Like what Alfor was trying to do.”

Keith lowered his head. “My perfect reality...is me alone?”

Lance realized what he just said, and mentally backtracked. “Wait, that can’t be right. ‘Cause in the end all my ‘perfect’ stuff just made life boring.” Lance snapped his fingers. “I bet Alfor is trying to keep us busy with what he  _ thinks _ we want. Messing with our heads again.” Lance patted Keith’s shoulder. “Looks like his prejudice is gonna bite him in the butt.”

Keith smiled. That must have been it. All of those fake memories he just had. The loneliness. That could never be Keith’s perfect reality. Alfor was vengeful until the end, putting Keith through more grief. But Keith would make him pay for it. Besides. Keith’s perfect reality had to include—

Keith’s mind shifted. “Wait. Where are the others?”

Lance looked around. All he could see was white, fog, and color. He concentrated, focusing on three distinct colors, and what they related to. Lance felt a chord tug his middle, showing him where to go.

“They’re here. They must be in their own little worlds. Just focus on them and we should be able to find them. You start by taking Pidge, I’ll go after Hunk, then we can find Shiro.”

Lance started off, but was yanked from behind. Keith had shot his hand out, gripping Lance’s arm.

“Wait! How are we supposed to know where they are? How are we gonna find each other again?!”

Lance looked back at Keith, his dark eyes filled with so much fear and confusion. Lance’s heart contracted, not wanting to see someone so strong like this. Lance huffed, giving Keith a confident smile.

“Do you trust me?”

Without hesitation. “Yes.”

“Then trust that we’ll find each other again. Like I said, you always find your way back, mullet.”

Keith blinked. He wasn’t expecting the optimism. But, he let it fill him. He returned Lance’s smile with a determined look, letting go of his hand. Lance nodded, and ran off into the fog, Keith turned the other direction, remembering his mantra.

_ Patience yields focus. _

He pinpointed a green aura, and ran towards it. 

 

\--

 

The crowd was cheering behind the fence, signs and posters bobbing with words of encouragement and congratulations. Streamers flew and confetti popped. Garrison troops made sure no one without authorization was close to the launch pad, watching the raving fans and their celebration.

Pidge couldn’t believe that all of this was for her and her family.

She walked through the line of people, soldiers and scientists saluting her, classmates hi-fiving her and patting her back. She gripped her helmet at her side, rubbing up against her launch suit, following Matt and Sam on the runway. 

At the entrance to the ship, Iverson stood at attention. Next to him, Colleen held a tissue, her tears rolling down her cheeks. She gripped Pidge in a tight hug when they reached each other.

“Make sure you video call everyday! Eat your space pea concentrate and drink lots of water. Don’t let your brother sleep in too late.”

“Mom, we’ll be okay.”

“Of course we will,” Sam stated. “We’re going to have the best intel for getting up there thanks to the sharpest mind at the Garrison.” He ruffled Pidge’s hair. 

“Come on, it’s almost time for launch,” Matt beckoned them from the ramp. 

Sam hugged his wife and left a peck on her cheek, following his son. Pidge gave one last little wave to her mom, then turned to follow her dad.

She was halfway up the ramp—

“Pidge!”

Pidge turned around, looking to where she heard her name.

Keith was scrambling through the crowd, bumping shoulders and knocking into people. He was in his signature red jacket and black shirt. His face was nervous, like someone was on his tail. He ran up to the ramp, puffing.

“Keith! What are you doing here? I’m about to leave—“

“Pidge. This isn’t real. This is all one big illusion.”

Pidge raised an eyebrow, smirking. “What are you talking about? I’ve been prepared for this for months. There’s no way this couldn’t be—“

Keith gripped her shoulders. “Pidge. Focus. Does ANY of this make sense? Is this logical?”

Pidge jerked her head back a smidge, affronted. She dismissed Keith’s weird attitude by pushing on her glasses. “Of course this makes sense. Why would any of this be—“

She stopped.

She was pushing on her glasses.

Why would she need glasses?

WHERE did she get glasses?

She looked back up at Keith. 

She went back to when she first met Keith—

After the Kerberos mission.

After the mission her brother went on.

Without her.

Pidge blinked, and the scene around her faded. She saw Keith, in his paladin armor and a scar on his face. She gasped, realizing the white space she was standing in. She cupped her head.

“Wait. What? What just—how did we—“

Keith patted her shoulders again. “It’s okay Pidge. You’re alright. Alfor is screwing with our heads.”

Pidge blinked, remembering the fight. Voltron. The Malteans. Alfor. All of it. She grimaced.

“That stupid, power-crazed...we’ve got to stop him.”

“And we will. Let’s go find the others.”

They ran off into the fog.

 

\--

 

“A couple of lemon nunvils, coming right up!”

Hunk ducked down into the bar to grab a pair of glasses. Coming back up, he looked out at the hustle and bustle of his restaurant. Customers were sitting down to a mix of burgers, salads, pastas, and anything else Hunk decided should be on the menu. Servers chatted with their tables, making small talk and providing personal service to each, all the time with a smile. Food traveled on platters, filling the hall with aromas of savory, sweet, umami, and even smoke, with the occasional sparkler dessert. 

Hunk filled the glasses with ice. Occasionally, he’d work as bartender to keep track of the restaurant, but also be able to meet his clients in a relaxed setting. Some of his biggest partners and benefactors got served a cocktail from himself. He’d go on about how his food technology could help billions, and all it would take was a quick joke and a sweet drink.

He poured some nunvil in the glasses, the drink splashing slightly when he switched glasses. A burst came from the door across the restaurant. Hunk looked up, seeing a very frazzled and wide eyed Cuban run to the bar.

“Lance! Hey, glad you made it. I’ve got a spot right up here for ya if you’d like.”

Lance looked at him like he was crazy, then looked down at his own dress shirt and pants (Hunk thought he picked a nice shade of blue today) then shook his head vigorously. “Hunk! Snap out of it! This is all one big crazy dream! It’s not real!”

Hunk chuckled. “Ha ha! Good one, man. But even you know how to clean up every once in awhile. It’s not that hard.” He turned to grab another cup.

Lance slammed his hands on the bar, startling some guests.

“Hunk! I’m serious! We’re in a magic cosmic plane of existence where our deepest desires are true!”

Hunk quirked a brow. “Yeaaaah. And I have a pet flamingo named Joaquim. Seriously dude, you okay? Need to sit down?”

Lance gave Hunk the most serious, not-funny stare Hunk had ever seen. Honestly, it kind of scared him.

“Hunk. You know I’d never lie to you, right? If I told you something wasn’t funny or super important?”

Hunk didn’t even need to give it any thought. He trusted Lance with everything. They were best friends. Through thick and thin no matter what.

“Of course man.”

“Then I’m being dead serious here.  _ None of this is real _ . It’s all a fake reality made up by Maltean Alfor.”

Hunk had to really think about that. It sounded crazy. But Lance sounded so sincere. Also, what the heck was a Maltean? That sounded like some kind of weird milkshake. It sounded like—

Like something Hunk would make up.

Because.

He did.

Lance’s clothes flashed between his blue shirt and blue armor. The restaurant’s lights blinked on and off. With each surge, the ceiling opened up, showing a bright white sky covered with iridescent clouds wafting by. Hunk looked back down. The glass he was holding disappeared. The bar between him and Lance vanished, a crystal floor clearing below them. 

Hunk stumbled, his legs buckling from the change. Lance leaned in to support him.

“WHOA! Okay, that’s weird. This is weird. Lance, talk to me, what’s going on?”

“Alfor created a zone where reality changes based on your thoughts and desires to keep us trapped here while he makes his own universe?”

Hunk pouted. “Sounds about right.”

Lance smiled, glad his best friend was back in his right mind.

“Come on man, we gotta get back to the others.”

“Right! And uhh...which way is that again?”

Lance patted his side. “No sweat bud, I know the way.”

He turned, running off into the fog, Hunk at his heels.

“And how’s that?!”

“Follow the unmistakable aura of brooding angst!”

 

\--

 

Keith and Pidge ran through the fog, the white light around them blurring their path. Keith couldn’t explain it, but Lance was right. If he focused hard enough, Keith could sense Lance. His warmth. His joy. Even something Keith could only describe as “razzle dazzle” energy (but he’d never tell anyone that). It was like, once they had  broken the illusion, they created a tether to one another, and all Keith had to do was follow it back.

The fog began to dissipate, Keith sharpening his vision, squinting to see through it. A few bounds away, and he saw two distinct blue and yellow blobs running in their direction. Keith picked up his pace, which left Pidge to switch to a full sprint.

“Lance!” Keith called out, trying to keep his exasperated relief down (Pidge heard though).

“Keith! Pidge!” Lance on the other hand, chose not to hide his elation, running to meet the other pair, Hunk huffing behind him.

They met in the middle, their steps echoing in the plane. Hunk gasped for air.

“PAAAAAHHH! OH—Kay! Alright. Really happy to see you two are okay, ‘cause I am getting FREAKED out by this place!”

“No kidding,” Pidge agreed. “This place takes your deepest thoughts and can put physical form to them.”

“More like Alfor puts you in a twisted world of your imagination.” Lance argued. He gave Keith a wink, recalling how none of these fake realities could compare to the real one. Keith returned with a smile.

Hunk cracked his back backward. “Yeah, really uncomfortable with that part. Like, how he just gets me, and puts me in my own restaurant, making cool machines that could end world hunger and—wait. Where’s Shiro?”

Pidge looked up at Keith. “You didn’t find him yet?”

“Not yet,” Lance answered her. “But we will.” He looked at Keith, a hard stare sculpting his face. Keith blinked from the unexpected seriousness.

“Keith. You know Shiro better than anyone. You’ve got the best chance to find him.”

And...Lance was right. Keith was both surprised and not from Lance’s logic. There was something about his authority. About Lance being so confident with what to do.

_Well_ , he guessed, _the_ _Black Lion made pretty solid decisions._

Keith nodded. He shut his eyes. He thought about meeting Shiro for the first time. How he never gave up on Keith, no matter what. About how Shiro came into his life when no one would give him a chance. Keith pulled all those feelings together.

And he felt the chord tighten.

 

\--

 

The door was open a crack, just so he could see some of the people begin to fill the pews.

Shiro peeked through the door, seeing the flowers line the rows of seats, white azaleas and purple bellflowers ribboning down the path. Guests sat down on either side, laughing or shouting or crying. He let his eyes travel further down the aisle. 

A trellis of the same flowers arched the main stage. Iverson stood at the front, attentive and ready to give, what Shiro assumed was on the Commander’s mind the best officiating anyone had ever seen. Off to one side, Veronica stood holding a small arrangement of flowers, wiping a tear from her eye. Opposite her, Matt fixed his boutonnière, the azalea falling slightly.

At the center of the aisle, his back to Shiro, Adam wore a black tux, violet borders on the coattails. Shiro couldn’t see, but he imagined him smiling wide, ready to take the next step in their lives.

Shiro rested his hand on the door, gripping its edge.

“Shiro!”

Shiro turned.

Keith was running towards him, a little frantic. He was dressed in a dark purple suit, a lavender shirt, and a, somehow matching, red bow tie. His white azalea popped against the fabric.

Shiro smiled. “Was wondering where you were. Don’t you kind of have to get in place, bud? I don’t want to start without my best man.”

Keith raised his brow, looking highly confused. Shiro wasn’t quite sure why he looked so desperate and winded. Keith looked through the door and down the aisle. His eyes widened, then fell. 

“Oh...Shiro...I’m so sorry…”

Shiro quirked his own brow, showing off a bewildered smile. “It’s okay, I mean, I’m in no rush. But I think everyone else is getting a little hungry. We can savor the moment then savor the cake.”

Keith didn’t take his eyes off him. Didn’t move. He still looked so pained and guilty, his face twisted with it. Shiro’s instincts started to take hold, realizing there was something else going on.

“Hey, what’s wrong, bud? You okay?”

Keith looked down, gripping his fists. He breathed in, then out slowly.

“Shiro...you went to Kerberos.”

Shiro blinked. “Wh—What was that?”

“You went to Kerberos. You took the risk and went into space. You didn’t sit back and settle down. You lived your dream.”

Shiro felt tension in the hall. His nerves were climbing higher, the air getting hotter. Keith was being so serious and earnest, but Shiro didn’t know what to make of it.

“I’m...I’m not following you Keith—“

Keith breathed. “Patience, yields, focus. That’s what you told me.”

Shiro’s eyes peeled. He did tell Keith that. But...but when? Shiro’s memory was hazy of the exact moment, but. He KNEW he told Keith that—

Shiro stopped. He breathed. He shut his eyes, and concentrated.

He let the memory wash over him. There was…a tunnel. Purple lights. Keith was there, in a...space suit? More memories surfaced. Flying into space. Being captured by—

The Galra.

The memories flowed like water.

Shiro saw his life flash. Fighting in the gladiator ring. A slash to his face, scarring him. Landing back on earth and meeting his team. Forming Voltron. Fighting for his life in the astral plane, his body perishing. Being resurrected, his hair turning white. Coming back to Earth and—

And seeing Adam’s name. On a memorial.

The memories hurt, Shiro gritting his teeth. They hurt because they were strong, and hurt because the emotions stung. But, he saw his friends. He saw his crew. He saw Keith. 

He saw—

He saw a future, sharing it with someone new. Someone that Shiro knew could help heal the pain, little by little.

He took in a labored and raspy breath, cupping his hand to his head.

Cupping a METAL hand, to his head. 

Keith bent over, trying to see his brother’s face. “Shiro, are you okay.”

Shiro was honest. “No,” he rose, standing upright, “but I will be.”

Keith smiled, his outfit flickering between a suit and paladin armor. He looked back down through the doors. “I really am sorry, Shiro. This is a stupid illusion that’s trying to mess with your head.”

Shiro looked out too, his eye on Adam’s back. “It’s cruel. But at least ...I got to see what might’ve been.” He looked back to Keith. “But I’ll take the truth over any fantasy.”

Keith gave him a somber smile. He gestured the other way. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

A pause. A look back down the aisle. A shaky breath. “...Okay.”

They walked out of the hall. The facade falling behind them, revealing the plane of light.

 

\--

 

The three of them stood in a circle, arms all crossed, tapping their toes. Well, more like Lance was stomping his, the nerves wracking his body like an electric centrifuge. He could still sense Keith, far away, but still that feeling of hesitance and quiet pride that he associated with Keith. Lance kept focused on that, not allowing himself to let go of it, for fear he’d lose it completely. Gradually, the feeling got stronger, along with a new aura of strength and understanding, and a sense of parental care.

Lance looked up, a red and black blur emerging from the fog.

“He found him!” Lance bolted, relief rocking his body. Pidge and Hunk blinked, then followed after.

The paladins reunited, forming a standing circle in the plane. 

“It’s good to see you’re all okay.” Shiro sighed, thrilled to see his team all together.

“You too, man, but,” Hunk looked up and around, “how exactly do we get OUT of here?”

Keith searched the plane. Not a hole, tear, or opening in sight. All just white and fog. “What if we tried imagining something? Like our realities?”

Lance pouted. “A nice thought, but I think there’s only one way we’re getting out of here, and that’s stopping the guy pulling the strings.”

Pidge put a hand to her hip. “Okay. Then how are we supposed to find him? He could be anywhere.”

Lance thought about that. If this was a world of Alfor’s creation, he could have very well hidden himself where the paladins could NEVER find him. But Lance wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t give up on his team after coming so far. He was determined to get them out of here and get them all back home.

Lance steeled his face. “I was inside the guy’s head. I saw what he wanted. I think I can sniff him out.”

His team looked at him. Hunk was nervous but encouraging. Pidge was skeptical but curious. Shiro was proud but concerned. Keith—

Keith had the utmost confidence, his eyes trained on Lance, trust exuding from them.

Lance closed his eyes.

He recalled Alfor’s memories. The paladins of old, his friends. He thought of (Maltean) Altea, the mountains and flowers that encased the valleys of the planet. Lance saw the faces of his people, shining and joyful, free from disease. He remembered how Alfor felt, curious and wide-eyed, ready to discover the secrets of the universe.

He saw a beautiful woman in a fuschia dress, eyes bright and smiling, silver hair flowing in the wind, juniberries catching in the breeze. In her arms was a small bundle, wiggling in her grasp. It turned, showing the tiny smile and beautiful blue eyes of a little baby.

Lance opened his eyes, the chord at his center tight as a drum.

“This way,” he announced.

He walked towards the thickest part of the fog. Keith followed behind immediately. The rest of the team took  a tiny, hesitant pause, but then stepped forward, following after them.

 

\--

 

When the fog got thick, it got dark.

The color died above, replaced with black clouds of swirling smoke. Fairy lights turned into menacing sparks, shocking around the paladins as they walked. The quiet gained whispers, squirming around and making their way into the paladins’ ears. Hunk shivered as he thought something slithered by him, but kept his eyes forward. The only light he could see was the blue glow from their armor, treading lightly but quickly behind Lance.

Lance couldn’t see two feet in front of him, but he kept a steady mind on Alfor’s chord. The smog turned sinister, telling him to turn back and run. It threatened his safety and his friends. He felt the pinpricks of shocks on his armor, warning him to stop. But he didn’t. He wouldn’t. He fought off the negativity. The fear. Lance knew that the only way his friends were going to be safe was if he went forward. It was the only way all of this would end.

A bead of light dripped in the smoke. Lance zeroed in on it, the chord pulling him towards it. He felt the relief at his back, his friends picking up their pace to join at Lance’s side. But as the light grew, Lance slowed down, feeling what was on the other end.

As they approached, Lance made out a figure.

He was sitting down, legs crossed, in the center of a spotlight. He wore a light pink undershirt, a baby blue over vest with yellow accents covering it. His hair was shorter, tucked back in a small bun. His face was clean shaven, and much younger, the green marks on his cheeks just small freckles. He was bent over, cradling something squirming in his arms. Lance heard cooing and sighing, the light sounds of a happy infant.

Lance stopped in front of him, shoulders rolled back, face stern, and eyes brave. Keith stood at his right, close and unmoving. The others stepped at his left.

Lance looked down at him. “It’s over.”

He didn’t look up, his eyes on the baby. Lance looked at her. His heart melted. Her eyes were two pearls, the pink flecks at her cheeks so small.

Lance gruffed. “You’ve lost, Alfor. It’s time to stop this and put things back the way they were.”

Alfor didn’t look at him. “...Leave me…”

Lance frowned. “You can’t keep this up anymore. You’re threatening the entire Multiverse with your selfishness—“

Alfor shot his head up, Lance flinching. The image crackled like an old TV set, Alfor shifting from his younger visage to his older, disheveled look, his red and black armor flickering in and out. 

“LEAVE ME!”

The baby in his arms only giggled.

Lance had a second of fright, but then, calmed down. At first, he thought he was looking at Alfor like he was dangerous. Someone who could destroy Lance’s entire life with the snap of a finger. Now...Lance was looking at a broken, desperate man. Selfish, but lonely. Lance wouldn’t excuse all he’d done. But, maybe, there was some way he could reach him.

“Alfor, you know all of this is wrong. No matter how much you want to imagine that it is, that’s NOT her. It won’t ever be her. Believe me. Trying to change your reality won’t make it true.”

Alfor kept his head down, Lance figured trying to ignore what he was saying. But Lance wasn’t done talking. It’s what he did best.

“You think you can just shove everything bad that’s happened, everything that you didn’t like about your life, your mistakes, you pain, all into a hole for you to ignore. You pushed people away. And when things didn’t go your way, you lashed out. Then you thought you could scrap everything and make it your own. Just forget about it and curse it, all so you could have your own perfect ending . But…,” Lance paused, reflecting on his own past, his pain. He breathed. “...life doesn’t work like that.”

He looked back at his friends. Shiro, Pidge, and Hunk all smiled at him, understanding. Lance turned. The softest smile was at Keith’s lips, his eyes sparkling with pride. Lance turned back to Alfor.

“I know it hurts. And I know how much it would mean to be able to change everything to what you want, but…,” Lance blinked, remembering a very small set of words, but ones he realized held much more weight than he imagined. “...what we want, isn’t always what we get.”

Lance saw Alfor twitch, his form flickering again. 

“You have to live with what life throws at you. It might hurt, and it might seem unbearable. You might think it’s unfair or wrong. But you just have to keep going. You have to accept that what happened, happened. And then, move on.”

Alfor gripped his arms tighter, like he was sheltering the baby.

Lance took a deep breath. “It’s okay to forgive yourself.”

Alfor was still. The baby burbled and reached up to her father. Lance watched, a little sad, knowing how much this probably hurt. But then grew wary, as red sparks shocked off of Alfor’s form.

“And why should I? When all I’ve done is achieve the impossible. When I’ve created the life I could live in happiness?”

Lance clutched his hands, his knuckles tight.

“Because she would want you to be happy, but not by hurting others around you.”

Electricity flashed behind Alfor. The paladins took a step back, the lightning close and hot. The black fog around them churned and grew, morphing into thunder clouds. Wind whipped around them, threatening to knock them off their feet.

Lance watched as the baby in Alfor’s arms disappeared, caught by the wind. The king’s body thrashed about, his arms shaking from losing his precious bundle. His form buzzed, flickering back to his elderly state. A growl curdled in the back of his throat. 

The paladins shifted their stances, pressing their feet on the ground to grip it, but the wind pushed them back.

“What’s happening?!” Hunk cried.

Pidge supplied an answer. “It must be Alfor! If he’s tied to this reality, then him losing focus is making it unstable!”

“So what does that mean for us?!” Shiro shouted, covering his face with a hand to block the wind. 

Pidge didn’t answer, because she didn’t like the possible outcomes.

Lance looked back down at Alfor. The king’s eyes and facial marks glowed, like power was pouring into him, filling him to the brim. The smoke swirled around him, making a cyclone around his body. Red whisps entered the smoke, their movements wild and jerky. More sparks crackled and popped.

Alfor’s head reared back, and he screamed. The sound was pure agony. A piercing cry that Lance could feel hurt in his own throat, guttural and primal. It was the sound of someone who had lost everything. Lance didn’t need powers to feel that.

The smoke ripped at Alfor’s form like a paper shredder, streams of the king peeling away into the wind, until nothing was left except the echo of his wail.

That didn’t stop the wind though.

The paladins tried huddling together, but the gusts were too strong. The lightning struck at their feet. The red whisps whirled around them. Hunk was at the center of a tornado.

“GAAAHH!! Anymore of this, and we’ll be swept up!” He stumbled, his legs jerking as they caught on the wind. He looked down to get his footing—

...He had no foot.

Hunk yelled, watching his own leg ribbon away with the wind, the other one flying off like sand on a dune. The others watched in horror.

“Guys!” Hunk called, reaching his hand out.”

“Hunk!” Lance lunged for his friend's hand, but all he gripped was smoke. Hunk’s face wiped away, the image of his terrified wince imprinted in Lance’s mind. 

Lance’s eyes were dinner plates, but realized what was happening, whipping back to look at his friends. 

Pidge’s hands peeled away, her gauntlets disappearing into smoke. She looked at her friends, panicking.

“Pidge!” Shiro bolted to her side. He tried extending his robotic arm out to grasp her. But it dissolved in an instant, becoming one with the storm. Shiro took another step and lost his footing, his leg falling victim as well. 

Lance and Keith watched the two of them. Pidge’s eyes were gigantic, pearls of tears forming at the corners. Before her face completely vanished, her lips twisted and quivered, a tic away from bawling.

She never got the chance, her eyes fading with the wind.

Shiro gasped. He looked back to Lance and Keith, then down at their feet, terror on his face. Lance looked down and stumbled. His feet flew away into smoke and fog, the wind whirling around him and making them disappear. At his side, Keith’s did the same.

Shiro was only half a body, more streams of smoke erasing him. “Guys! Don’t—!”

The wind snuffed him out like a flame.

Lance looked at Keith. Keith looked at Lance. Both of them were at a loss. Lance watched the gusts flap Keith’s hair, making his bangs fly, showing off his forehead and scar. His eyes flashed whenever lighting struck the ground. Keith saw Lance’s hair flipping all over the place. The cut on Lance’s brow was bent, the fear plastered on his face. 

Despite not having legs anymore, Keith took everything he could muster, his exhaustion, his exasperation, his determination, and lumbered forward. Lance watched how the attempt labored him, and copied Keith, putting all his might into getting a step closer. 

Keith reached out a hand, but it dissipated, fading like smoke on a candle. Lance tried his own. But the same result, open air replacing his hand.

Their breaths came out shaky and scared, their hearts pounding. So, Lance did the only thing he could think of.

He closed his eyes. He leaned in. His forehead touched Keith’s. Keith shut his own eyes, their heads together, glued at their brows. Lance had his teeth gritted. Keith’s mouth was twisted in a scowl. They both felt the wind at their bodies, whisking them away.

Lance pulled his lips into a tight, but also quivering pout. “M—must be getting close?”

Keith nodded, Lance feeling his forehead go up and down. “M—must be.”

Lance looked up, drinking Keith in. “You getting scared?”

Keith opened his eyes, transfixed on Lance. He was terrified. He’d just seen his friends and brother ripped away in the wind. And now, he and Lance were about to meet the same fate. He was more scared than he’d probably ever been in his life.

Still.

He held his gaze on Lance. He held this moment, looking straight at him. He held how, despite the swirling winds, Lance being here was keeping him grounded, stable. And he would not let it go.

“I’m not scared.” 

Lance’s face contorted, his lips still shaky, but he let out the smallest huff of a laugh, his chest swelling a bit with slight confidence. Tears streamed down his face. A smile formed.

“Good. Me neither.”

He shut his eyes again, leaning his head harder on Keith. Keith reciprocated his own pressure, but could feel his strength leaving, his grip slipping.

The wind howled and roared, lightning flashing all around. But despite the chaos, the two of them felt like they could be at the center of the storm.

Lance sighed, finally feeling himself being pulled away. “See you on the other side, samurai.”

Keith breathed out, a smile at his lips. “Meet you there, sharpshooter.”

The breeze picked up, and a gust of wind carried them off.

 

Gone.

 

\--

 

…

 

…

 

…

 

The end of reality and his conscious thought shouldn’t ache this badly, he thought.

Lance squeezed his eyes, realizing that, first, he felt as sore as when Veronica brought him to a beach body pump class and he couldn’t move for three days after. The second thought, was that he COULD squeeze his eyes, because that meant—

“QUIZNAK I’m alive!”

He gasped out, peeling his eyes open. Looking around, he saw lights blink and flash, controls in his hands, himself seated, and a large screen showing the vast sea of space.

He was back in the Black Lion’s cockpit.

The sweetest sound he heard though, was the groans and mumbles of his teammates in his comms.

“GUYS! You’re all okay!”

“Lance? Is that you?” Keith’s voice was like the sound of a fog horn and a church bell rolled into one.

“No, it’s Varkon from the mall, OF COURSE it’s me! And it’s all of you!”

Pidge cradled her head, her mind still going for a spin. “What the heck just happened?”

“I don’t know. I don’t want to know. I NEVER want to know. Because that would mean trying to figure out how we turned into smoke and ended back up in Voltron, and I don’t want that kind of metaphysical mind torture in MY brain, thank you.” Hunk was taking the experience well.

Shiro squeezed his eyes open and closed, clearing the headache from his brow. He looked and gave a little sigh of relief, finding his mechanical arm still “attached” to him. “I’m just happy we’re all okay.”

Lance was about to agree ecstatically, but a groan in his comm iced his blood. Not the groan of a paladin. But the groan of metal. From OUTSIDE of Voltron.

Lance turned their bot around, and his eyes flashed. 

Eviltron floated a few meters away.

And it was moving.

 

\--

 

Alfor gripped his controls. His brow was thick with sweat. He gasped damp breaths. His body shook.

He was close. SO CLOSE. He had her in his arms. He had the cosmos at his fingertips. So how? HOW? How could one insignificant BOY from another universe beat him so easily? Dissolve his entire life’s work like it was nothing?!

Alfor looked out. He saw the other Voltron, it’s limbs moving with life. The other paladins had escaped his dream realm. His arms shook, rage taking over.

“If I am to be denied my life, then I will see it you will never make it back to yours.”

He thrust his controls forward.

 

\--

 

Lance had two tics to notice Alfor’s assault. “Look alive!”

Voltron dodged in the tic of time, Eviltron whizzing past them.

Hunk grunted under the strain. “You think we could nix the mortality humor, Lance?! Especially after an experience like that?!”

“I’m being dead serious here, Hunk.” (“I mean it!”) “We’ve got to put an end to this guy once and for all.”

“And how do we do that if we’re just fighting ourselves?” Pidge kept a close eye on Eviltron, gearing up the shield if need be.

“We’re not fighting ourselves, Pidge.”

Shiro quirked a brow. “What do you mean?”

Lance frowned at the mess of a robot in front of him. He remembered the twisted feeling in his gut that he got from it, how Eviltron had been deformed from years of quintessence overload and rift creature corruption. But now, Lance realized the other reason he felt so insecure around it. The swirling aura around it wasn’t just evil, but broken. Like the beast had been this way for so long, it didn’t know what to do. 

It was crying. It was lonely.

“There’s five of us, and only one of him. We’ve got our drives behind us. We have everything that’s put us here today. And we are NOT going to let him mess up the universe!”

Keith raised a brow, then huffed out a smile. “So what are we gonna do about it.”

Lance smirked. “Razzle Dazzle.”

And they all punched it.

Voltron sped off. Keith brought up the right ion beam, firing a shot towards Eviltron. The other bot dodged easily, space-side-stepping out of the way. Voltron halted and turned, Pidge now firing her laser, Green opening up her maw to let it loose. Eviltron brought its arms up, shielding itself, but getting pushed back. Voltron flew up to it, getting a kick ready with Yellow—

Eviltron disappeared in a flash of red, the space where it had been now goopy and malformed.

“Back it up!” Lance shouted, gunning all his gears in reverse. Voltron slowed down, avoiding the deformed space scar.

Pidge darted her eyes looking out her window. “He’s reality jumping again!”

Sure enough, a red pop appeared behind them, Lance anticipating it quickly enough to avoid an ion beam strike. A tic later, and Eviltron popped out of reality again, another scar cut.

Hunk wailed. “Can this guy just sit still?! Or at least, stay in this zone!”

Pidge agreed, but her eyes were still on the scar. It waved and wiggled, shook, then burst, like a small firecracker. In its place was a ball of pure black, nothing in or around it.

“Uh oh.”

“What’s ‘uh oh’ Pidge?” Shiro never be liked when their most intelligent teammate said “uh oh”. 

“Alfor’s reality jumping is getting more unstable. The jumps are starting to warp. To put it simply, the space scars are turning into dead tissue and killing everything around it. It’s become black space.”

“Is that like a black hole?” Lance asked.

“No,” Pidge really didn’t understand EXACTLY what was going on, and making quantum theories on the fly was a little stressful, “these don’t have a gravitational pull. This is just pure nothing.”

“So...if we get all spazzed out when we go in the space scars…” Hunk started regretting the imagination he was having in his head.

“How about this,” Keith interjected, “we don’t go into the black space.”

“Easier said than done with a giant robot bent on killing you—AAAAAHH!”

Hunk’s sentence was cut short with an ion beam to the chest. Eviltron popped into existence right in front of them, pushing them back into the first space scar. 

The paladins shook, their bodies shocked by the discomfort and pressure. Lance used all his strength to give an order.

“Leg! Move!”

Shiro and Hunk gunned it, forcing themselves to move. Voltron vibrated, then popped out the scar, a tic before it collapsed into black space.

Keith breathed heavy. “We need a plan.”

Lance looked up. Eviltron drew its sword, ready for a duel. 

“Sword.”

Keith complied instantaneously. 

The sword grew in Red’s mouth, swinging it once. Lance breathed, then charged. 

Voltron surged forward. Eviltron flew and met them. The two clashed swords, sparks the size of minivans flying. They parried and slashed, each trying to gain ground on the other. Eviltron spun and swiped a circle, Voltron flying back to dodge it. Voltron jabbed thrice in a row. Eviltron blocked every one. 

Voltron tried another thrust, and Eviltron popped again, disappearing in a red light. Voltron stopped quickly, avoiding the scar by a hair. They turned around, trying to watch their back.

Pidge grimaced. “If this keeps up there’ll be more black space than normal. And not only that, he could rip the fabric of reality.”

Shiro thought about their universe. Earth. Altea. Everyone. “So what can we do?”

Hunk didn’t have an answer. “He keeps bouncing around and playing hide and seek. He’s too fast and we have no hiding spot!”

Lance blinked. For a moment, he’d forgotten what had happened before they entered Alfor’s dream reality. What he was trying to do.

Now, he remembered.

“Keith! I need your help!”

Keith blinked, but then steeled. He didn’t even need to be told what to do.

“I’m on it!”

They punched their bayards in the ignition.

Behind them, Voltron’s rocket wings glowed and burst, the pair dwarfing the giant robot. Lance took a second to watch Voltron’s speed gauges increase before giving his next order. 

“Guys! We’re gonna need everyone!”

The other three blinked, but then followed his instructions. They each plunged their bayards in their slots, turning the ignition, Lance and Keith clicking theirs once more.

A lot of things happened in rapid succession, and Lance had to register them one by one.

Voltron’s blade burst into fire, the flame sword crackling with heat. Next, the shield on the back of Green dispatched, growing twice its size, and clasped back on.

The real sight was at Voltron’s back.

The rocket wings glowed. The light so bright they could have been a pair of stars. Then, like a cocoon, they ripped open. A pair of robotic, feathering, blue wings opened at Voltrons back. Keith and Lance both noticed how similar they were to the Black Lion’s wings, except much bigger, and much brighter.

Voltron had become an angel.

A flash of red, and Eviltron appeared in front of them. Voltron stared down its corrupted twin, the space between them tense with fury.

Lance breathed. There was so much power behind him right now. So much weighing on him. His friends were counting on him. He had one shot. He knew it. But...could he even do it?

He felt something on his shoulder. Something placing itself at his back. A familiar feeling, one calming and warm.

And a soft voice.

_ Now _ .

Lance breathed, and punched the engines.

Everyone shouted. Every paladin roared with anger, frustration, and hope. Voltron flew like a shooting star. In an instant, they were right up against Eviltron. 

The other bot held up its own sword, ready for a jab. Voltron showed it their shield, defending themselves from the strike. Eviltorn reared its other arm, preparing for a point blank ion beam.

Lance flipped his controls, remembering how it felt to fly in Black.

Voltron flashed. The metal turned transparent and intangible. The entire vessel phased through Eviltron. Voltron slashed its flame sword back, and plunged it forward. The blade passed through Eviltron like a ghostly inferno. Eviltron looked down, almost confused as to why the blade was only an apparition.

Then Lance flipped the gear back, and Voltron became physical again.

. . .

The flash was bright.

A circle of light shot out of Eviltron like a sonic wave. The rings reached around them, and traveled out into space. Voltron’s sword flickered in the belly of its enemy, the flames licking its side. 

Everything was still for a moment, then the paladins all shouted, shifting their gears. 

The sword dragged through Eviltron like a knife through a steak. Slow. Meticulous. And precise. Metal creaked and wailed. Sparks flew out of broken and cut parts. Eviltron flinched at each inch the paladins gained.

 

\--

 

Alfor felt an overload of energy wash over him. He shook, the blade in his robot’s stomach digging through, destroying his creation.

His mind went for a loop. Images and feelings were like arrows to his brain. Each of those five devils all had a goal in mind:  _ stop him _ . Alfor gritted his teeth, five forces of power silencing his own.

No…

_ Six _ .

Alfor blinked. He saw the other Voltron outside, flames dancing in front of his window. He caught the feeling of each paladin and their Lions, one and the same entities. But...there was one more. A feeling so familiar and comforting, but now opposing him, helping he paladins drive that sword through his robot.

It almost felt... pink. 

Alfor yelled, the sword reaching the other side, slashing through Eviltron.

 

\--

 

The fire on the sword blazed. The wings flapped once. Voltron posed, an arm straight with the blade stretched out, it’s finishing move completed.

A tic.

Eviltron exploded in light. Red electricity shocked and cracked all around it, stronger than any lightning storm. Voltron watched the show, enthralled by it, but then consumed by it, the blasts wolfing down the giant mech.

The paladins felt the surge of energy. They shouted, pain the only thing on their minds. The strain was so strong they started to lose consciousness. 

Lance reached out, not just to Black, but to all the Lions. He reached out to the force at his back, hoping, praying, that they’d all make it out okay.

And that was the last thought on his mind, before he was swallowed by white.

…

 

…

 

…

 

The light faded. 

Voltron floated, unmoving. On its surface, it appeared fine, a few scratches here and there. 

Inside, the paladins were slumped in their seats. All of them had passed out. The internal gravity was failing, their limbs footing slightly. Lights were dark, and the only noise came from the creaks of metal joints. 

Good news? Eviltron was gone. Vanished. The paladins safe from any immediate enemies.

Bad news? Space popped all around them, the jumps that Alfor had made creating more and more black spaces. 

Voltron floated in the center of them, dark and quiet, its five paladins having no idea that the universe was getting closer and closer to being ripped apart.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ......just keep dangling just keep dangling  
> Welp, we're almost there. How is it all going to end? What ELSE could POSSIBLY be in store???  
> Well, you'll have to wait 'til next time on season 9!  
> Check out the posters and clips on tumblr and twitter (hoelko) and instagram (hoelko_doods)


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